




Sara)?, ©eat 


%o School 


Glsie Smdm&ster 













































COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 

















Clste Ringmaster 


WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL. Illus¬ 
trated. i2mo, $ 1 . 00 . 

WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY. Illus¬ 
trated. i2mo, $1.00. 

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
Boston and New York 




WHEN SARAH WENT 
TO SCHOOL 



IT IS NOT RIGHT FOR ME TO GO 


(page 18) 







WHEN SARAH WENT 
TO SCHOOL 


BY ELSIE SINGMASTER 

AUTHOR OF WHEN SARAH SAVED THE DAY ” 


WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 
dtoergi&e f$re&5 Cambribge 
1910 



sQ 


\ 



COPYRIGHT, I91O, BY ELSIE SINGMASTER 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


Published October iqio 


« 


» « 
C 


©CLA2751'r3 



TO THE MEMORY OF OUR 
GRANDMOTHER 

SARAH MATTERN SINGMASTER 


“ What did the other children do ? 

And what were childhood, wanting you ? 





































*> 


CONTENTS 


I. The Dress Parade.1 

II. “The Normal”. 21 

III. Sarah loses her Temper.44 

IY. Sarah explains .65 

V. Professor Minturn’s Experiment ... 81 

YI. The “ Christmas Carol ”. 99 

VII. Sarah saves the Day Once More . . . 121 

VIII. The Result of Professor Minturn’s 

Experiment. 139 

IX. The State Board. 158 

X. The Chairman makes a Speech . . . .173 












✓ 





























ILLUSTRATIONS 


“ It is not right for me to go ” (page 18) Frontispiece 
On the Threshold stood Miss Ellingwood . . 64 1 ' 


She seems to have fainted. 146 

He kept her beside him. 186 


From drawings by Wilson C. Dexter. 





WHEN SARAH WENT TO 
SCHOOL 


CHAPTER I 

THE DRESS PARADE 

Across the angle of the post-and-rail fence 
at the lower corner of the Wenners’ yard, a 
board had been laid, and behind the board 
stood a short, slender, bright-eyed young 
girl, her hands busy with an assortment of 
small articles spread out before her. There 
were a few glass beads, a string of buttons, 
half a dozen small, worn toys, a basket of 
early apples, and a plate of crullers. When 
they were arranged to her satisfaction, she 
took an apple in one hand and a cruller in 
the other, and, climbing the fence, perched 
on the upper rail and began to eat. 

Before she had taken more than two bites 
an extraordinary procession appeared round 


2 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

the corner of the house. Ellen Louisa, one 
of the Wenner twins, dressed in a long ging¬ 
ham dress of her sister-in-law’s, leaned af¬ 
fectionately upon the arm of the other twin, 
Louisa Ellen, who wore with ludicrous effect 
a coat and hat of their brother William’s. 
Clinging to Louisa Ellen’s hand was a small 
fat boy. They solemnly approached the im¬ 
provised store. 

“ Is any one at home in this store ? ” asked 
Louisa Ellen in a gruff voice. 

The proprietress slid down from the top 
of the fence. She spoke carefully, but she 
did not quite succeed in disguising her Penn¬ 
sylvania-German accent. 

“ Well, sir, what is it to-day? ” 
u I want — ” It was Ellen Louisa, who 
spoke in a simpering tone — “I want a 
penny’s worth of what you can get the most 
of for a penny, missis. I want it for my little 
boy. Apples will do. He has it sometimes in 
his stomach, and — ” 

A loud crash interrupted Ellen Louisa’s 


THE DRESS PARADE 3 

account of Albert’s delicate constitution. 
He had seized the propitious moment for the 
purloining of two crullers, and in order to 
establish his ownership, had taken a large 
bite out of each. It was the storekeeper’s 
quick grab which brought the counter to 
the ground, and mingled all the wares in 
wild confusion on the grass. 

Albert looked frightened. When, instead 
of scolding, Sarah dropped to her knees and 
helped him gather up the toys, he stared at 
her, bewildered. 

“ You’d catch it if I was n’t going to the 
Normal to-morrow to be learned ! ” said 
Sarah. “ But to-day is a special day. What 
shall we play next ? ” 

The twins swiftly shed their superfluous 
garments, and became two thin little girls, 
who could scarcely be told apart. Their plaid 
gingham aprons waved in the breeze as they 
danced about. 

“ Let us play 6 Uncle Daniel,’ ” they cried 
together. 


4 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


Even sixteen-year-old Sarah hopped up 
and down at the brilliancy of the suggestion. 
Uncle Daniel Swartz was their mother’s 
brother, who lived on the next farm. After 
their mother and father had died, and their 
older brother had apparently disappeared 
into the frozen North, whither he had gone 
to seek his fortune, Uncle Daniel, who had 
long coveted the fine farm, had attempted to 
divide the little family and add the fertile 
acres to his own. It was Sarah who had 
stubbornly opposed him, holding bravely 
out until William had come home. William 
had married pretty Miss Miflin, the district- 
school teacher, and, giving up his plans for 
further adventure, had settled down to be¬ 
come a truck farmer. Already he was suc¬ 
ceeding beyond his rosiest hopes. 

Both he and his wife were anxious that 
Sarah should go to school, and all the sum¬ 
mer Laura had been helping her to recall 
the small knowledge she had had before 
heavy care and responsibility had taken her 


THE DRESS PARADE 5 

from the district school. To-morrow she was 
to enter the sub-Junior class of the Normal 
School, which William and Laura had at¬ 
tended. Laura had corresponded with the 
principal, Doctor Ellis, and had engaged 
Sarah’s room. It had been a busy summer. 
Sarah had kept up her Geography after she 
had left school, but in other branches she 
had needed a good deal of tutoring. 

No one who saw her now, in her wild 
game with the twins, would have guessed 
that she had ever had any care or responsi¬ 
bility. She assumed first the character of 
Uncle Daniel; she told the twins that they 
must go to live with Aunt Mena, she tried 
to entice Albert away. Then she was Uncle 
Daniel’s hired man, Jacob Kalb, who had 
translated his name to Calf, because he was 
anxious to be thought English. In this role 
she was pursued round the barn by the 
twins, who brandished an old, disabled gun, 
which in Sarah’s hands had once terrified 
Jacob Kalb. 


6 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


Once, in this delightful game, they passed 
close to the fence beyond which Jacob him¬ 
self was working. Sarah balanced for a sec¬ 
ond on the upper rail. I 

“ Jacob Calf, 

You make me laugh ! ” 

she shrieked, and then jumped down back¬ 
ward. The twins held the gun aloft, scream¬ 
ing with delight. 

The game closed with a scene in the Or¬ 
phans’ Court, where Uncle Daniel demanded 
that he be made their guardian, and where 
William returned at exactly the proper and 
dramatic moment. 

“And now,” announced Sarah breath¬ 
lessly, when it was all over, “ I am going to 
say good-by to everything.” 

A feeling of solemnity fell suddenly upon 
the twins and Albert. Who would be store¬ 
keeper on the morrow ? Who would be 
Uncle Daniel and Jacob Kalb and the judge 
of the Orphans’ Court in swift succession ? 


THE DRESS PARADE 


7 


Who would help them with their lessons ? 
Who would defend them if Uncle Daniel 
should ever come threatening again? Who 
would draw bears and tigers and “ nele- 
phunts ” and all manner of birds and beasts ? 
“ May we go fishing?” they would ask Sis¬ 
ter Laura, and Sister Laura would answer, 
“ Yes, if Sarah will go with you.” “ May 
we write with ink? ” — “ Yes, if Sarah will 
spread some newspapers on the table, and 
sit beside you with her book.” Would these 
treats be forbidden them? Or would they 
be allowed to do as they chose ? But even 
independence would be distasteful without 
Sarah. Each twin seized her by the hand. 

“ It is a long time till Christmas,” mourned 
Louisa Ellen. 

u Ach , stay by us !” wailed Ellen Louisa. 

“ And grow up to be like Jacob Calf! ” 
cried Sarah derisively. “ I guess not! I am 
going to be a teacher, and if you ever get in 
my school, then look out! You will then 
find out once if you don’t study. I will then 


8 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


learn you Latin and Greek and Algebray 
and more things than you ever heard of in 
the world, Ellen Louisa and Louisa Ellen. 
You would like to grow up like the fishes in 
the crick. Good-by, crick! ” Sarah drew 
her hands away from the twins, and dabbled 
them in the cool, fresh water. “ Good-by, 
fishes ! Good-by, bridge ! Good-by, bushes ! 
Why, Ellen Louisa! Louisa Ellen ! ” Sarah 
looked at them with an expression of com¬ 
ical surprise. Louisa Ellen and Ellen Louisa 
were crying. “ Stop it this minute ! ” She 
seized Albert by the hand. Albert had 
already opened his mouth, preparatory to 
joining his sisters in a wail. “ Albert and 
I will beat you to the barn. 

u One for the money, 

Two for the show, 

Three to make ready, 

And four to go ! ” 

Louisa Ellen and Ellen Louisa did not stop 
to dry their tears, but scampered over the 
ground like young colts, their skirts flying. 


THE DRESS PARADE 


9 


When Albert and Sarah got to the door, the 
twins had vanished, and there ensued a game 
of hide and seek such as the old barn had 
never smiled upon. Sarah climbed about like 
a monkey. She seemed to be in half a dozen 
places at once. The twins thought she was 
downstairs in one of the mangers, when sud¬ 
denly her voice was heard from the top of 
the haymow. They played tag on the barn- 
floor, they sang, they danced, with Sarah 
always in the lead. It was certain that the 
stately Normal School would open its doors 
on the morrow to no such hoyden as this. 

They were in the midst of 

“ Barnum had a nelephunt, 

Chumbo was his name, sir,” 

when the barn-door opened, and a young 
woman appeared. She watched them for a 
moment silently. 

u Well, young Indians/’ she said. 

The oldest of the young Indians clasped 
her hands in distress. 


10 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


“Is it time to get supper already? ” 

“ Not quite. And if four members of the 
family did n’t insist upon having waffles, you 
should n’t help at all. Your clothes are all 
ready, and I want you to come and see them.” 

The twins raced wildly toward the house, 
and Sarah followed more slowly with her 
sister-in-law and Albert. She looked shyly 
and gratefully at Laura. She had not yet 
grown quite accustomed to having “ Teacher” 
a member of the family. She had so long 
looked up to her with awe and admiration 
that her constant presence in the house did 
not seem quite real. Laura often laughed at 
her. 

“ I should think, Sarah, that after you had 
cleared up my outrageous bread-dough three 
times, and had taken my burnt pies from the 
oven, you would begin to feel fairly well ac¬ 
quainted with me.” 

Sarah flushed with embarrassment. It was 
true that Laura was slow about learning to 
cook. But cooking was such an ordinary, 


THE DRESS PARADE 


11 


every-day accomplishment! It was much more 
remarkable never to have had to cook. 

“ But now you can make good bread and 
pies/’ she would insist. 

The whole summer had seemed like a 
dream. The house was no longer strange and 
dark and lonely as it had been after their 
father had died. Sarah no longer crept fear¬ 
fully about at night, fastening the shutters 
before dark, for fear that Uncle Daniel would 
try to get in. It had been a happy, happy 
summer. William came and went, whistling, 
teasing the twins, riding fat Albert round 
on his shoulder. Uncle Daniel annoyed them 
no more. “ Teacher ” bent with flushed face 
over the stove, laughing at her mistakes, and 
calling occasionally to Sarah for help; and 
Sarah herself sat by the window, a little table 
before her, on which were books and paper 
and pencils. 

The little table was gone from the window 
now, the lessons with Laura were over, to¬ 
morrow night Sarah would sleep away from 


12 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


home for the first time in her life. They had 
expected that the trolley company, which had 
given them a good price for the right of 
way through the farm, would have finished 
its line, and that Sarah would have been able 
to go back and forth to school each week. 
But the tracks had just begun to creep out 
from the county-seat. 

The twins had run upstairs; their deep 
ohsf and aclis! could be heard in the kitchen 
below. They shrieked for Sarah, who was 
already on the steps. 

When she looked round the familiar room, 
she clasped her hands and then stood per¬ 
fectly still. Beside her bed was an open trunk, 
and spread out on the bed itself and on the 
twins’ trundle-bed was her outfit for school. 
There were two school dresses, and a better 
dress and a best dress, — the last of red cash- 
mere, with bands of silk. There were new 
shoes and a new coat and two hats and gloves 
and an umbrella and handkerchiefs and 
underwear, all marked with her name, and a 


THE DRESS PARADE 


13 


gymnasium suit, and a scarlet kimono and a 
comfort and pencils and tablets and — Sarah 
began suddenly to tremble — a little silver 
watch and chain and a fountain-pen. 

“ The little watch was my first one, Sarah/’ 
explained her sister-in-law. “ It keeps good 
time. And the fountain-pen is from William, 
and the umbrella —” 

“ And the umberella”—the twins and Al¬ 
bert had seized upon it simultaneously—“ the 
umberella is from us. William, he sold our 
Spotty Calf for us, and this is some of the 
money, and you can make it up and put it 
down, and it has a cover like a snake, and — 
Look at it, once ! ” 

Sarah took the umbrella in her hand. Her 
school dresses had been tried on by Laura, 
who had made them ; she had known all about 
those. And William and Laura had made a 
trip to town and had been very short and 
mysterious about the bundles they brought 
home. She had supposed they had brought 
a few things for her, — a new pair of shoes, 


14 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

perhaps, or a new shawl. But these things! 
Once, during her mother’s lifetime, she had 
had a red woolen dress; she still cherished a 
patch which remained after it had been made 
over for one of the twins. Except for that, 
her dresses had always been of gingham or 
calico. And two hats, when last year she 
had had only a sun-bonnet! And a fountain- 
pen, like Laura’s, and Laura’s own silver 
watch ! A lump came into Sarah’s throat. 

Perhaps Laura felt a lump in her own. 

“Come,” she said brightly but a little 
huskily. “ You must try these things on, and 
you must hurry if you are going to bake 
waffles for this hungry brood.” With one 
hand she took the umbrella from Sarah, with 
the other she unbuttoned her gingham dress. 
“Children, shut down the trunk-lid and sit on 
it. Now, Sarah, the gymnasium suit first.” 

Sarah chuckled hysterically as she was 
helped into the flannel blouse and bloomers. 

“ She looks like a bear,” giggled Louisa 
Ellen. 


THE DRESS PARADE 


15 


“ Like a pretty thin bear/’ said Sister 
Laura. “ She will have to be fatter when 
she comes home. Louisa Ellen, run and get 
my work-basket. These elastics must be 
tightened. Now, Sarah, the school dresses, 
then the blue sailor suit and the blue hat. 
You are to wear those to-morrow.” 

Sarah stared down at her dress, still speech¬ 
less with amazement and delight. 

“ And now the red dress. Your brother 
William chose this color, Sarah, and your 
hat and coat match it.” 

Fat and silent Albert opened his mouth 
to speak. 

“She looks like — ” he began, but could 
think of nothing to which to compare her. 
“ She don’t look like nothing.” 

“ She looks like a — a fine lady,” said 
Louisa Ellen. “ Ach , when can we go to 
the Normal ? ” 

Laura had turned down the glass in the 
old-fashioned bureau. 

“Now, Sarah, take a good look, and then 


16 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

undress. These sleeves must be shortened a 
little. I can do that this evening. I ’ll pack 
the trunk while you get supper.” 

Sarah revolved obediently before the glass. 
But her eyes saw nothing. The lump in her 
throat seemed now to suffocate her; she 
struggled frantically to swallow it, hut it 
only grew larger. The twins watched her in 
fright. Presently Louisa Ellen slid down 
from the trunk, and went across the room 
and touched Laura on the arm. 

“ Something is after Sarah,” she whispered 
in shocked surprise. Never before had Sarah 
behaved like this. 

Laura laid down her work. 

“ Why, Sarah, dear ! What is the matter ? ” 

It was a moment before Sarah could speak. 
She rubbed her eyes, then she looked down 
at the new red dress, and the new red coat, 
and then at the old gingham dress and apron 
on the floor, and at her hands, on which still 
lingered the marks of heavy toil. 

“ I would rather stay at home,” she faltered. 


THE DRESS PARADE 17 

“ Ellen Louisa and Louisa Ellen can have 
my things, and—and when they are big, 
they can go in — in the Normal. I —I would 
rather stay at home and do the work.” 

Laura sat down again in her chair by the 
window, and drew Sarah to her knee. 

“Why would you rather stay at home, 
Sarah ?” she asked gently. It was not strange 
that a reaction had come. There had been 
the struggle with Uncle Daniel, and then the 
long, hot months of summer, and now the im¬ 
mediate excitement of the afternoon. “ Tell 
me, Sarah.” 

“ I am too dumb,” wailed Sarah. “Nobody 
can’t teach me nothing.” 

“I thought I had taught you a good deal 
this summer.” 

“ But there won’t be any teachers like you 
at the Normal. I would rather stay at home. 
I am too old to go any more in the school. 
I am little but I am old.” 

“Like Runty,” cried Louisa Ellen. The 
twins had been listening in frightened and 


18 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

fascinated attention. Runty was a pig which 
had never grown. “ Runty is little, but he 
is old.” 

Even Sarah had to smile at this. 

u But you will have too much work to do,” 
she said to Laura. “ It is not right for me 
to go.” 

Laura laughed. 

“ Cast no aspersions upon my ability to 
keep this house, young lady,” she cried gayly. 
“ And you will be no older than many of 
the girls and boys in your class. Now take 
off your dress and go mix your batter, and 
in ten minutes I 'll be there, and then Wil¬ 
liam will come home, and then we ’ll have 
supper, and then you must go to bed early.” 

When William came, there was no trace 
of Sarah’s tears. He teased her gayly, as 
William always did, and said, as he helped 
himself to a fifth waffle, that the first four 
samples were pretty good, and that now he 
was really beginning to eat. It was not until 
she was safely in bed that the lump came back 


THE DRESS PARADE 


19 


into her throat. This going away to school 
seemed suddenly worse than the long strug¬ 
gle against Uncle Daniel. She was going to 
live among strangers, — she would hear no 
more dear, familiar Pennsylvania-German, 
she would see only strange, critical faces. 
The Normal students would probably laugh 
at her, as she laughed at Jacob Kalb. They 
might make rhymes about her, as she made 
rhymes about Jacob. 

Laura, who tiptoed into the room to put 
the red coat with its shortened sleeves into 
her trunk, heard her whisper. 

“ What did you say, Sarah?” she asked. 

Sarah hid her face in her pillow in an 
agony of embarrassment. She could not pos¬ 
sibly tell Laura what she was saying to her¬ 
self, and Laura, thinking that she was talk¬ 
ing in her sleep, tiptoed out again to com¬ 
plete her preparations for the next day’s 
journey. 

Before Sarah went to sleep, she smothered 
an hysterical giggle. One possible rhyme 


20 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


which might occur to the Normalites had 
come into her mind. It was that which she 
had been saying to herself. It was ominous, 
but she could not help laughing. It ran,— 

“ Sarah’s Dutch, 

She is not much.” 


CHAPTER II 
“the normal” 

In the morning Sarah found, fortunately, 
no time for regret or grief. She had said 
good-by to the twins and Albert the night 
before, and though they had loudly insisted 
that they would be up in time to see her off, 
they did not wake and were not called. The 
three older members of the household had 
breakfast together, then the new trunk was 
lifted to the back of the spring-wagon, and 
Sarah, in her new sailor suit and blue hat, 
climbed to her place between William and 
Laura for the drive to the station. 

Her heart beat so rapidly that she could 
not speak. She looked back at the broad, 
low-lying house, shadowed by a great hickory 
tree; at the friendly barn, which had been 
a playground for them all; and then at the 
winding, twisting stream, which made their 


22 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


land so fertile. Was it possible that a few 
days ago she had wished to go away ? 

Up at Uncle Daniel’s house, the family 
was already astir. Jacob Kalb crossed the 
barn-yard, milk-pail in hand, disdaining to 
look back, though he must have heard 
plainly the sound of the spring-wagon. 

“ He will go in and peek out,” laughed 
Sarah. “ Jacob, he would n’t miss nothing.” 

“ ‘ Jacob would n’t miss anything ’ is what 
you mean, is n’t it, Sarah? ” asked her sister- 
in-law. 

“ Achy yes! ” cried Sarah penitently. 
“ But what is coming ? ” 

She grew pale. Down from the Swartz 
house hurried Aunt ’Liza. “ She can’t stop 
me ! ” said Sarah, gasping. 

William laughed. “ No, indeed.” 

Aunt ’Liza came to the side of the wagon. 
She had never approved of Uncle Daniel’s 
methods. 

“Here is something for Sarah,” she said. 
“ I thought while she was going off I would 


THE NORMAL 


23 


make her a little cake, once, and a little apple 
schnitz. She liked always apple schnitz .” 

Sarah jumped dow r n over the wheel of the 
spring-wagon. 

“Ach, I thank myself.” 

And she seized the stout lady in a fer¬ 
vent hug, which her aunt as fervently re¬ 
turned. 

u And now,” said Sarah happily, as she 
climbed back, “ I am not cross over nobody, 
and nobody is cross .over me. Ach , I know 
I am talking dumb again ! But after I get 
on the cars, I will say everything right.” 

She could scarcely sit still. Laura and 
William looked at each other and smiled. 

In all her life Sarah had been on the train 
but once. That was six months ago, when, 
accompanied by the twins and “ Teacher,” 
she had gone to the county-seat to protest 
against Uncle Daniel’s being made their 
guardian. She was too much worried then 
to enjoy the roar of the great engine as it 
rushed upon them, the hurry with which 


24 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

they scrambled aboard, the wild thrill of de¬ 
light as the train got under way. Now she 
enjoyed each sensation to the full. There 
had never been such a wonderful train as 
this, whose seats were so luxuriously cush¬ 
ioned, which moved so swiftly, which was so 
filled with interesting persons. Sarah waved 
her hand to William, she tried to call to him 
a final message to the twins, and then they 
were off. Sarah drew a deep breath. 

“Ach ! ” she wailed. “ My trunk ! ” 

Laura showed her the check. “ Your trunk 
is on the train, my dear.” 

“ Ach , it is too wonderful! ” cried Sarah. 
“No, I won’t say ach any more. Ach, but 
I am going to try! ” She clapped her hand 
over her mouth and looked up comically. 
“ Ach — I can’t express me without ach .” 

“ Yes, you can,” Laura assured her. “ See 
the girls opposite us. They ’re probably going 
to the Normal School.” 

Sarah looked eagerly across the aisle. The 
girls were laughing and talking together as 


THE NORMAL 


25 


though they had not seen each other for a 
long time. They were tall and slender, and 
they were unlike any girls that Sarah’s ad¬ 
miring eyes had ever seen. One had blonde 
curly hair, the other was dark, with wide, 
lovely eyes. 

“Do you think I will know those girls?” 
she whispered. 

“ Of course you will. Those and many 
more.” 

Sarah clasped her hands happily. The stern 
and critical race with which she had peopled 
the Normal School suddenly ceased to exist, 
and lovely creatures like these took its place. 
Sarah’s eyes brightened as she smoothed 
down her new blue dress. Then she sighed. 
The bothersome consciousness of her own 
unworthiness overwhelmed her. 

“ The Normal will have a hard time to 
make me look like them,” she said to herself. 

Once, long ago, when her mother and 
father were still alive, and the twins scarcely 
more than babies, the Wenners had taken a 


26 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

long holiday drive. One of the towns which 
they visited was that in which the Normal 
School was situated. It was then that her 
father promised that if Sarah studied, she 
should go there. She could see the school 
as plainly as though it were yesterday instead 
of eight weary years ago ; she could hear 
her father’s voice. Her recollection of the 
low house and the barn and the creek which 
they had left that morning was not more 
vivid. Before the train stopped, she saw the 
tall tower, which she remembered; she knew 
just how it overshadowed the other buildings. 
And there had been beautiful trees and ten¬ 
nis-courts and young people going back and 
forth. 

She scrambled down from the train, and 
clung close to Laura, a little frightened by 
the noise and confusion about her, the loud 
greetings, the shouts of hackmen. 

“ This way to the Normal School. Take 
my carriage, lady! ” 

They picked their way round a great pile 


THE NORMAL 


27 


of trunks, and Laura gave Sarah’s check to 
a baggage man. He touched his hat smilingly. 

“ Glad to see you back, Miss.” 

“Does he know you?” asked Sarah in 
awe. 

Laura smiled. A pink glow had come into 
her cheeks. 

“ No. He only recognizes me for an old 
student. We’ll walk down to school. It 
is n’t far, and we ’ll both enjoy it.” 

A little farther down the street a grocer 
stood at the door of his shop, and to him 
Laura said good-morning. 

“ Does lie know you?” asked Sarah. 

“He remembers that I used to buy apples 
from him. That is the place to get the best 
apples in town. You see, coming back to 
school is like coming back home.” 

“ I never thought of that,” said Sarah 
slowly. She was to remember it clearly enough 
months afterward. “But—” 

They had turned a corner and come out 
before a wide green campus. “ But this ain’t 


28 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

— ach! is n’t my Normal! It—it wasn’t so 
big, and this — this is n’t my tower!” 

“No, the tower you saw is the little one 
over yonder. This is the new Recitation 
Building. This was n’t here then. See, over 
there on the Main Building is your tower. 
And this is the Model School, and yonder 
is the Infirmary, and away back there is the 
Athletic Field, and — Ah, here we are! ” 
And Laura ran up the steps of the Main 
Building as though she were coming to school 
herself. 

The wide door stood open, there was a 
sound of cheerful talking from within. Sarah 
heard a man’s voice lifted suddenly above 
the rest. 

“Why, Mrs. Wenner, how do you do? 
And this is your sister-in-law. We are glad 
to see you both.” 

“ Thank you,” answered Laura. “ Sarah, 
this is Dr. Ellis. I think you said Sarah was 
to have my old room.” 

“Yes,” answered the principal. “Eugene 


THE NORMAL 


29 


will take you up and give you the keys. 
Here, Eugene.” 

In another minute they were in the ele¬ 
vator ; then they went down a wide hall and 
turned a corner. 

“ Here we are. I wonder whether your 
room-mates are here.” 

It was the bell-boy who answered as he 
flung the door open. 

“ It looks so, miss.” 

The two newcomers stood in the doorway 
and gasped. Sarah was not entirely unac¬ 
quainted with confusion. She knew what 
the kitchen at home looked like at the end 
of a morning’s baking at which the twins 
and Albert had been allowed to assist. But 
the twins and Albert at their worst could 
accomplish nothing to equal this. 

A room in which two trunks are being 
unpacked is not expected to look very neat, 
but this confusion seemed the result of care¬ 
ful effort. There were dresses scattered here 
and there, not on the backs of chairs, or 


30 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


laid across the beds, but dropped to the floor 
and in heaps on the table. There were shoes, 
not set side by side, but widely scattered, a 
slipper and an overshoe on the bureau, a 
boot and a slipper on the radiator. A drawer 
had been taken from the bureau and laid 
on a bed; into it a trunk-tray bad been 
emptied, helter skelter, as though its contents 
were waste paper. Apparently the owner 
bad been suddenly called away, for the tray 
still lay upside down across the drawer. 

To Sarah’s Pennsylvania-German eyes, the 
scene was terrible. 

“ You ’ll have to do some missionary work, 
Sarah,” Laura said merrily. “This closet 
seems to be empty. Hang your bat here, and 
take that bureau. We’ll turn it this way so 
that the light is a little better. That is the 
way Helen Ellingwood used to have it when 
she and I roomed here together. The school 
was n’t so crowded and there were only two 
of us. Now we’ll take your pitcher down the 
hall and fill it, and by that time your trunk 


THE NORMAL 


31 


may come, and perhaps the owners of these 
clothes, also, and then we can clear up.” 

They made their way round the trunks and 
boxes in the hall. A few doors away, a girl 
who was bending over her trunk stood up 
to let them pass. She turned her face away, 
but not before they had seen that it was 
streaked with black. Her hands, too, were 
as black as ink, and she was crying. Laura 
stopped at once. 

“ Why, what is the matter ? ” 

“I packed — a — bottle of ink—in my 
trunk, and it — it has broken. I — ” 

Laura looked into the depths of the trunk. 
u Oh, my child ! Have you taken the bot¬ 
tle out ? ” 

“ Yes, but the ink is there yet.” 

Laura pushed back her cuffs. 

“ Can you get me a lot of newspapers and 
spread them thickly on your floor ? There, 
in the sunshine. Why, these things seem 
black to begin with. Your gymnasium suit 
is black, is n’t it ? And here is a black skirt. 


32 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


See, it has n’t reached down to your books, 
and the trunk is n’t stained.” 

“But my white petticoats are — are all 
black.” The girl’s tears made white channels 
on her face. 

Laura patted her on the shoulder. “Then 
wash your face and hands, and run down to 
the book-room and get some ink eradicator, 
and I ’ll show you how to apply it. Come, 
Sarah.” 

Sarah’s bright eyes shone. Laura might 
not know how to make waffles, but she knew 
other, more wonderful things. Sarah’s heart 
swelled; she thought of Albert and the twins 
in this safe care, and she slipped her hand 
into Laura’s without a word, and Laura smiled 
down at her. 

As they came back through the hall, they 
heard a cheerful voice. 

“I’ll unlock the door, Eugene. Yes, we ’re 
glad to be back. Move that trunk in here, 
please. Gertrude, you brought a trunk-cover, 
did n’t you ? ” 


THE NORMAL 


33 


A dark-eyed girl appeared in the doorway. 
“Yes, Ethel." 

“ They are our girls," whispered Sarah. 

“ Yes, and they are evidently other peo¬ 
ple’s girls." 

The hall was suddenly crowded with a 
welcoming throng. 

By this time, Sarah’s room-mates had ap¬ 
peared. One was tall and stout; she said that 
her name was Ellen Ritter. The other, who 
was equally stout but much shorter, said that 
she was Mabel Thorn. It was to her that the 
bureau-drawer belonged. She lifted the trunk- 
tray and slid the drawer into place. 

“ Our trunks must be out of here by night," 
she said. “ They take them to the trunk-room. 
Mine’s ready." 

“And mine," said Ellen Ritter. 

She slammed down the lid, and pulled the 
trunk into the hall, and Mabel pushed hers 
after it. Two small, cleared spaces were left, 
otherwise there was no change in the appear¬ 
ance of the room. The girls did not return, 


34 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

even to close the door. Sarah, staring after 
them, saw a smiling young woman poise for 
an instant on the sill, a hand on either jamb. 

“Well, Laura Miflin ! ” she said. 

The speed with which Sarah had flown to 
meet William upon his return from Alaska 
was no greater than that with which Laura 
crossed the room. 

“ Helen Ellingwood ! ” she cried. “ What 
are you doing here ? ” 

“I am going to teach Elocution. Why 
have n’t you written to me ? I did n’t even 
know you were married. I live next door. 
And who is this, and how are you ? ” And 
Miss Ellingwood pushed aside a pile of books 
and underclothes and collars and sat down 
on the edge of the bed. “ These things don’t 
belong ‘ to you nor none of your family,’ I 
hope ? ” 

Laura shook her head. 

“This is my sister-in-law, Sarah Wenner, 
question number one. I am very well and 
very happy, question number two. No, these 


THE NORMAL 


35 


do not belong c to me nor none of my family,’ 
question number three. What would you do 
with them?” 

“ Spank the owners. Perhaps they ’ll clear 
up, though. The first day is always demoral¬ 
izing. Now tell me everything you can think 
of.” 

And Miss Ellingwood shifted to a more 
comfortable position, and while Laura un¬ 
packed and Sarah put away, the old friends 
chattered until dinner-time. 

The great dining-room, with all the con¬ 
fusion of the first day of school, was an 
awesome place to country-bred Sarah. She 
was sure that she should never know one 
face from another. She should never learn 
to find her place. 

“ You must sit at my table,” said Miss 
Ellingwood. “ There will be plenty of room 
there to-day, and this afternoon I shall have 
you assigned there permanently. This way ”; 
and Miss Ellingwood put out a guidinghand. 
Sarah began to take courage. 


36 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


The afternoon seemed as long as the morn¬ 
ing had been short. Directly after dinner, 
Sarah went with Laura to the train. She 
did not see the rushing engine so clearly 
now, nor watch the streaming white smoke; 
her eyes, fixed firmly upon a slender figure 
in a brown suit, were dimmed, and the strange 
lump of yesterday had come back into her 
throat. Now, at last, the moment of separa¬ 
tion had come. 

She walked slowly back to school, and 
about the grounds. Laura would be getting 
home now, and William would have driven 
to the station to meet her. Had the twins 
done just as they were told all day ? Had 
they remembered the deserted kittens in the 
barn? Would Laura be able to fix the fire 
for the night? 

Sarah ate her supper with difficulty. Miss 
Ellingwood did not appear, the other stu¬ 
dents said little, Sarah could not see her 
room-mates, or the Ethel and Gertrude who 
seemed a little less strange than the other 


THE NORMAL 


37 


students, or the girl who had packed the 
ink in her trunk. At the recollection of 
her woe-begone face, Sarah smiled and felt 
better. 

“She is dumber yet than I,” she said to 
herself. 

At seven o’clock there was a chapel ser¬ 
vice. The gongs rang in the halls, and there 
was a general opening of doors, and passing 
of footsteps. Sarah followed her neighbors 
down the hall. At the entrance to the chapel 
stood Miss Ellingwood, a book in her hand. 
She was assigning seats which the students 
were to keep for the year. 

“Wenner, Row B, left, seat 32. Down 
there to the left, Sarah, near the girl in the 
white dress.” 

Sarah made her way down the sloping 
aisle. She had never been in any room larger 
than the little country church, and this chapel 
with its high ceiling, its fine chandeliers, 
seemed marvelous. In the chandeliers, strange 
to say, candles were burning instead of lamps. 


38 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

To her dismay, her seat was directly be¬ 
neath one of them. She glanced upward un¬ 
easily. There was no contrivance to catch 
the drippings, and everybody must know 
that candles dripped. She looked down at 
her new blue dress ; it would be impossible 
to get candle grease out of it. She meant 
to speak to the girl in the white dress; then 
she saw that Mabel Thorn was coming down 
the aisle. She took the next seat. 

“Are you not afraid of the candles?” 
whispered Sarah. 

“ What candles ? ” 

“Those, up there. They will drip on us.” 

Mabel tilted her head and looked up. Then 
she grinned. 

“Did you never hear of gas? ” she asked. 

“Stove gas,” answered Sarah. “ Our stove 
makes it when the wind is not right.” 

“You never heard of illuminating gas?” 

Sarah shook her head. “ Never.” 

“ Where do you come from?” 

“ Near Spring Grove post-office.” 


THE NORMAL 


39 


“Well, the candles won’t hurt you/’ 
laughed Mabel. 

She got up and went across to the next 
row of seats to where the girl in white was 
sitting, and whispered to her, and they both 
turned and looked at Sarah. Then she came 
back to her place, as the chapel began to 
fill, and whispered to the girl on the other 
side, and she looked at Sarah and laughed. 
Sarah became slowly aware that she had 
said something very foolish. 

Mabel did not wait for her when chapel 
was over, nor did she and Ellen appear until 
bed-time. Sarah had sat for a long time 
staring across the moonlit campus, and wait¬ 
ing to ask which bed she should take. There 
were a double and a single bed side by side. 
She supposed that the two friends would 
wish to sleep together, but she did not know. 
Once she heard the doleful strains of “ Home, 
Sweet Home,” played on a mouth organ, and 
some one called, “Have mercy on the new 
students! ” and there was a burst of laughter. 


40 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

When Mabel and Ellen finally arrived, 
they told her that she was to have the single 
bed. She supposed that now they would 
put the room in order. Well, she would cover 
her head from the light, and be thankful. 
But they undressed and tumbled into bed, 
even before Sarah was ready, without touch¬ 
ing anything except the articles which were 
in their way. In a suspiciously short time, 
they were asleep. 

Sarah lifted the clothes from the single 
bed and laid them on the chairs, then she 
attempted to blow out the light. Mabel was 
wide awake in an instant. 

“ Turn it off there at the wall, you goose! ” 
she said; and was at once apparently asleep. 

Sarah made her way warily toward her bed. 
Having said her prayers, she laid back the 
covers and jumped in. 

Instantly there was a terrific crash, and 
she went down with spring and mattress to 
the floor. She was for the first second too 
terrified to breathe, then she picked herself 


THE NORMAL 


41 


up and found that she was not hurt. There 
was a faint light coming in through the 
transom, and she could see that the slats 
which supported the springs had become mis¬ 
placed. With a little help, she could readjust 
them. 

“ Ach, would you please help me a little? ” 
she begged. 

There was no response from the double 
bed. Instead there came a heavy knock at 
the door. 

“Who is out?” asked Sarah faintly. If 
the principal himself had replied, she would 
not have been surprised. 

A stern “Let me in ! ” answered her. She 
drew her dress on over her nightgown and 
went to the door. A strange figure stood 
without, — a tall woman in a long, flowered 
dressing-gown. 

“ What was that noise ? ” 

Sarah pointed to the bed. “I—I did n’t 
know it would go—go down.” 

“ Where are your room-mates?” 


42 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

Mabel and Ellen evidently thought it was 
time to manifest signs of life. 

“Here, Miss Jones.” 

“Can you explain this?” 

“Oh, no, we were asleep. Weren’t we, 
Sarah?” 

“It just went down,” stammered Sarah. 
“I — I guess I jumped too hard on it.” 

“ What is your name? ” 

It was the first time the Wenner name 
had ever been mentioned with hesitation 
and shame. 

“Sarah Wenner.” 

The tall figure was gone, its silent depart¬ 
ure worse than threats, and Sarah closed the 
door. Mabel turned over lazily. 

“ Get up and help her fix the bed, Ellen, 
I saved her from blowing out the light.” 

Ellen rose, grumbling. Miss Jones lived 
beneath them and was the strictest teacher 
in the school, she said. Sarah would be haled 
to the office to-morrow. She helped to put 
the slats in place, and told Sarah not to 


THE NORMAL 


43 


make any more noise. Then, long after ex¬ 
hausted and terrified Sarah had fallen asleep, 
she giggled with Mabel until the night-watch¬ 
man rapped at the door. That, mercifully, 
Sarah did not hear. 


CHAPTER III 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 

When Sarah opened her eyes, early the next 
morning, it was scarcely more than light. 
She was accustomed to spring out of bed 
before she was fully awake; there had been 
very little time in her life for the last, 
delicious nap of early morning. There was 
always the stock to be fed, the cows to be 
milked, and the milk to be taken to the 
creamery, and afterwards the twins to be 
roused and fed and sent to school. Since 
Laura’s advent, life had been vastly easier, 
but the feeling of responsibility had not al¬ 
together vanished from Sarah’s mind. 

There was something about the happen¬ 
ings of the night before that sent her hurry¬ 
ing out of bed as she hurried when the fear 
of Uncle Daniel hung over her, when she 
used to get up before daybreak to assure her- 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 45 

self that the twins and Albert and the farm 
property were all safely in place. 

She could not at first make out where she 
was; then the prodigious chaos of the room 
recalled yesterday’s experiences. And here 
was her own bed, pushed out a little from 
the wall, its covers all awry. She remembered 
now distinctly what had happened last night. 

Ellen and Mabel slept peacefully in their 
double bed; and as she remembered her sud¬ 
den downfall and their lack of sympathy, 
her face flushed. Snatches of their whispered 
talk, heard in drowsiness, came back to her, 
and she began slowly to guess that it was 
neither the carelessness of the school bed- 
makers nor her own light weight which had 
sent the spring and mattress tumbling to the 
floor. She felt a pang of fright as she re¬ 
membered the stern teacher in the flowered 
gown. But surely, they would not punish 
her for an accident! Presently a faint smile 
lifted the corners of her mouth. There was 
no doubt that it had been funny. But the 


46 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


girls might have waited until she was a little 
more at home. 

When she was dressed she sat down by 
the window. There was not a soul to be 
seen on the quiet campus, and not a sound 
to be heard. It was almost six o’clock, and 
she began to be hungry. She had forgotten 
to ask the breakfast hour. 

After a while there were faint noises, the 
opening of a distant door, the sound of 
sweeping down on the walks, and then the 
ringing of a great hand-bell. Sarah heard it 
first in a far corner of the building, then it 
drew nearer and nearer, and she heard the 
swift steps of Eugene, who carried it. As it 
went past the door, she put her hands over 
her ears. She smiled again, thinking that a 
bell like that might w r ake even Albert and 
the twins. 

She began to be a little alarmed when she 
saw that neither Ellen nor Mabel stirred. 
She thought that Mabel’s eyes opened, but 
they closed again at once. Had the girls 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 47 

grown suddenly deaf, or were they ill ? 
Sarah tiptoed toward the bed and stared at 
them. Both were breathing regularly. But 
it was time to get up, and they would not 
wish to be late for breakfast. Sarah laid her 
hand on Ellen’s shoulder. 

“Stand up. It belled. Ach /” No, thank 
fortune, they had not heard. Sarah took a 
deep breath and amended her speech. “ The 
bell rang,” she called. “ It is time to get 
up.” 

Still Ellen did not respond, and she went 
to the other side of the bed and tried to 
rouse Mabel. 

“ It is time to get up ! ” 

A sleepy and cross “ What ? ” answered 
her. 

“ The bell rang. It is time to get up.” 

Mabel turned over on her other side. 

“ Let me be.” 

Once more Sarah sat down by the window. 
Why did these girls not wish to get up ? 
Did n’t they wish any breakfast ? Did n’t 


48 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

one have to get up ? Perhaps they were like 
the twins, who were cross at first but grate¬ 
ful afterwards. She touched Ellen once more. 

u It is time to get up.” 

Ellen sat up in bed. 

“ If you don’t be quiet and stop bother¬ 
ing me I ’ll settle you. You need n’t tell me 
when it’s time to get up. I’ve been in this 
school for a year.” With that she lay down 
again. 

Once more Sarah sat down by the window. 
The great building was astir now. She heard 
doors open and shut, she heard girl call to 
girl, she heard Miss Ellingwood moving 
round in her bedroom, and still her room¬ 
mates slept. Then an electric bell rang, and 
motion and sound increased. Sarah started 
toward the door. She would inquire whether 
that was the signal for breakfast, and she 
would go down. But a sharp voice stopped 
her. 

Ellen and Mabel had sprung out of bed as 
though tossed by springs. 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 49 

“ Sarah/’ commanded Mabel, “ run down 
the hall and fill this pitcher.” 

A look of distress came into Sarah’s black 
eyes. 

“ I am afraid I will be late.” 

“Nonsense! Hurry.” 

Sarah flew down the hall. She met a score 
of girls going toward the elevator, and they 
looked at her smilingly. 

“ You’d better hurry, youngster.” 

“ Ach , I am ! ” answered Sarah. 

To her amazement Ellen and Mabel were 
almost dressed when she returned. She would 
have set the pitcher down inside the door 
and then run, but Mabel called again. 

“Wait a minute. You’re too late now 
to get in without permission, and you don’t 
know where to go for that. See whether you 
can find a blue belt in that pile.” 

Sarah’s tears dropped upon the pile of 
collars and ties and belts. 

“ I would rather not go than be late,” she 
said. 


50 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


The girls laughed. Mabel took the belt 
from her hand and hung it over her arm, 
meaning to buckle it as she ran. 

“ All right, you little goose,” she said; 
and then the door closed behind them with 
a slam. 

Sarah was desperately frightened. Per¬ 
haps they called a roll and the absentees 
were punished. There was no one in sight 
in the hall from whom she could ask advice, 
and she began wearily to make her bed. 

“ Perhaps I will have to pack my trunk, 
too,” she said to herself. “ But if I do not 
know what to do and nobody will tell me, 
how shall I find out ? ” 

She felt a thrill of both terror and relief 
when she heard a footstep in the hall. It 
came directly to the door, there was a rap, 
then the door was pushed open. 

“ Why, Sarah, don’t you want any break¬ 
fast?” 

Sarah made a brave effort to steady her 


voice. 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 51 

“ Yes, ma’am.” 

“ Then why don’t you come down ? ” 

“I —I was too late/’ stammered Sarah. 

“ Well, come now, and to-morrow morn¬ 
ing you will begin a little earlier.” Miss 
Ellingwood held out a kindly hand. “ Won’t 
you?” 

Sarah stammered another “ Yes, ma’am.” 
She could not say that she had been up 
since five o’clock, because that would in¬ 
volve explanation, and she did not wish to 
be a tale-bearer. 

She caught Ellen Ritter’s eye as they 
went down between the long lines of tables, 
and Ellen grinned and nudged Mabel. But 
Sarah did not care. Some one was interested 
in her. Miss Ellingwood had left her break¬ 
fast and had come all the way upstairs to 
find her. She ate her breakfast cheerfully, 
answering shyly the remarks of her com¬ 
panions. 

“ Now, when the next bell rings, you 
must go to the chapel,” said Miss Ellingwood. 


52 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


“Take a tablet and pencil with you, and 
then you can write down your classes for the 
day. And if you get into any difficulty, 
come to me. The bell will ring at eight 
o’clock, and you know where the chapel is.” 

At half-past seven Sarah took her tablet 
and two neatly sharpened lead pencils, and 
stole out of her room. Nobody should pre¬ 
vent her from being on time now. She went 
down quietly and opened the chapel door. 
Then she realized that she had forgotten the 
number of her seat. If she had such diffi¬ 
culty with little things, what would she do 
when lessons began ? 

Suddenly she remembered with a throb of 
relief the chandelier whose dripping she had 
feared. She sat down in a chair which was, 
as nearly as she could guess, the one she had 
occupied the night before, and bent her 
head back to look up. Yes, it was from this 
spot that she had seen the dangerous candles. 
She sighed thankfully, and proceeded to 
write her name on her note-books, and then 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 


53 


to read the school catalogue, which gave a 
list of her lessons. 

There would be Physiology, Arithmetic, 
Spelling, and Political Geography, to begin 
with. In each of these she would have three 
recitations a week, and she must pass an 
examination in them before the State Board 
at the end of the year in order to enter the 
Junior class. Besides, she would have less 
frequent lessons in Latin, History, and Gram¬ 
mar. In these branches she would not have 
to be examined, except by her teachers, until 
the end of her Junior year. Each week she 
would also have an hour’s exercise in draw¬ 
ing and in vocal music. And every other day 
she would have to spend three quarters of 
an hour in the gymnasium. Sarah shook her 
head solemnly. It seemed like a large con¬ 
tract for so small a girl. 

All the morning she went to classes, gain¬ 
ing in each room a new book, a new note 
on her tablet, and a redder flush on her 
cheeks. By noon the pile of books had 


54 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

grown almost to her chin. She carried them 
proudly across the campus and up to her 
room. 

It was going to be hard, but not as hard 
as she had feared. She had naturally a quick 
mind, far quicker than she suspected. There 
were two branches in which she had a val¬ 
uable advantage. Political Geography would 
be only a review. Her father had been a 
dreamer, loving accounts of strange cities 
and far countries, and in the long evenings 
after he had become ill, he and Sarah had 
pored over the atlas, following William on 
his long journey, and trying to picture the 
strange countries on the other side of the 
world. There were few countries which Sarah 
could not bound, few rivers and cities which 
she could not locate. 

Nor would Spelling be hard. The Wen- 
ners were naturally good spellers ; even little 
Albert could spell simple words like “ cat ” 
and “dog.” 

But there were Physiology and Arithmetic 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 55 

and History. The History had already given 
her a bad fright. 

Professor Minturn, opening the course 
with a lecture on the interest and value of 
historical study, had suddenly looked about 
the class to find some one to read a paragraph 
from the text-book illustrating what he was 
saying. Sarah’s face, bent eagerly forward, 
attracted him, and he asked her her name and 
told her to read. The color flamed into her 
cheeks, and with trembling hands she found 
her place in the book, and then rose. In¬ 
stead of standing still, she walked to the 
front of the room, and, in a fashion learned 
before Laura had come to teach the Spring 
Grove School, “ toed ” carefully a crack in 
the floor, lifted her book to a level with her 
chin, and began. 

“ Page three, chapter one, paragraph four. 
* The Study of History.’ ” 

Wild laughter interrupted her, at which 
Professor Minturn frowned and sternly com¬ 
manded silence. He was a nervous, easily 


56 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

irritated man, who never felt that his stu¬ 
dents worked hard enough. 

“ Go on, Miss Wenner.” 

Sarah read through the paragraph with a 
voice which she strenuously endeavored to 
make steady. It seemed to her that she had 
never seen so many th’s and v’s, which she 
was just learning to pronounce. But she got 
safely to the end, and then fled to her seat. 

(< I have never heard a paragraph read 
more intelligently,” commented Professor 
Minturn grimly, thereby adding to her con¬ 
fusion. 

Of all her lessons, Latin promised to be 
the most terrible. 

“ I will not talk to the twins again about 
learning them Latin,” she said to herself, 
with a sigh. “But the teacher, he seems like 
a kind man. Perhaps he will help me some¬ 
times a little.” 

In her room that afternoon, she handled 
the books as though they were loved dolls. 
Sarah had never really owned a book. The 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 57 

school-books from which she had studied 
had belonged to William, and now were 
used by the twins. If anything remained of 
them after the twins were through with 
them, they would go to Albert. But these 
were hers, they were new, she might write 
her own name in them, she might keep them 
all her life. 

The confusion in her room worried her, 
but she turned her back upon it, and set 
resolutely to work. By the time that Ellen 
and Mabel came in to prepare for gymnasium 
she had learned her History lesson and dis¬ 
covered that she need not study her Spelling. 

The period of gymnasium proved to be 
another surprise. To a girl who climbed to 
the upper rung of the barn ladder and the 
top of a tall hickory tree, and who could 
churn butter and drive a fractious horse, 
the simple exercises with wands and dumb¬ 
bells were child's play. She wished to get 
back to her work, she wished to touch again 
the clean, white books. 


58 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

Ellen and Mabel laughed at her unmerci¬ 
fully. They had been in the Normal School 
for a year, and had learned and invented 
many ways of shirking. After supper they 
announced that they were going to straighten 
up the room, and for five minutes, during 
which they had scarcely made a beginning, 
they worked diligently. Then Ellen threw 
herself down on the bed, and declared that 
she was tired. For a few minutes there was 
a welcome silence, then Ellen began to giggle 
and got up and left the room. By the time 
she returned, Mabel had taken her place on 
the bed. 

“ Sarah,” Ellen began pleasantly; and 
Sarah, marking the place in her book, looked 
up despairingly. 

“ What is it ? ” 

“ I met the bell-boy in the hall, and he 
said that your brother is here.” 

Ellen was frightened by the sudden terror 
on Sarah’s face. 

“ My brother! ” 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 59 

“Yes. Oh, nothing is wrong. I think he 
is just here in town and wishes to see you. 
And there are people in the reception room, 
so Eugene will bring him up here in a few 
minutes. Mabel and I will go out.” 

Mabel got up quickly from the bed. 

“ Yes, of course.” 

Sarah rose to her feet. 

“ Ach, you needn’t go! And”—- she 
looked round the disorderly room — “could 
n’t we fix here a little up once ? ” 

Ellen and Mabel shouted with laughter. 

“ There is n’t time to fix here a little up 
once.” 

When the door was closed, Sarah looked 
about once more. She was frightened by 
William’s coming, she was distressed that 
he should see such a room. Ellen and Mabel 
had not even made their beds. Those, at 
least, she would spread up. If he would only 
delay for a few minutes, she might make 
the room look presentable. She drew the 
curtain across the alcove where the wash- 


60 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

stands stood, and hung her room-mates’ 
dresses in the closets. For an instant she 
was tempted to toss them in on the floor 
and shut the door on them. But Sarah had 
had too few nice dresses in her life to treat 
them roughly. The shoes were swept into 
the closets, the bureau drawers were filled 
and closed; then, as she heard a step in 
the hall, she smoothed her hair and went to 
the door. 

“Wil—” she began, and then gasped. It 
was a man who stood without, but it was 
not William. No; it was not even a man. 
There was a fluffy tie above the collar of 
his rain-coat, his derby hat was pinned on 
with a hat-pin, the hand which he held out 
was decked with rings. 

“ What do you mean ? ” demanded Sarah, 
trembling. 

“ Are n’t you glad to see me ? ” giggled 
Ellen. 

“ Where is my brother William ? ” 

“ I am your brother William. I — Why, 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 61 

look at this room ! She has put it all in 
order ! Mabel! ” 

There was a burst of wild laughter, then 
the two girls ran down the hall to return 
the clothes to the girl to whose brother they 
belonged. “ I never knew such a joke.” 

Sarah went inside and shut the door. 
Then she locked it and stood with clenched 
hands. It was cruel to play such a trick. 
They had frightened her, and now she was 
desperately disappointed. And she had lost 
at least a half-hour, and it was only two 
hours until the lights were put out. She 
would not let the girls come in again; they 
would not study, they might visit their 
friends. With shaking hands she opened 
her books. 

But she could not study. She heard an¬ 
other burst of laughter. Probably they were 
telling the other girls about it, and they 
were laughing at her. 

Presently her heart ceased to beat so rap¬ 
idly and she settled down to work once 


62 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

more. Perhaps they would not come back. 
She knew that it was against the rules to go 
from room to room during study-hours, but 
they did not keep rules. 

“ ‘ Man is the only living creature that can 
stand or walk erect/ ” she began aloud. 
“ ‘ Man is the only living creature that can 
stand or walk erect. The human skele¬ 
ton — ’ ” 

The knob was softly turned; then there 
was a knock at the door. Sarah did not 
answer. 

“ Let us in, Sarah.” 

Still Sarah made no response. 

“ Open the door, Sarah.” 

“ No, I am not going to open the door,” 
cried Sarah shrilly. “ You can just stay out.” 

A long silence succeeded. She settled 
again to her work. 

“ ‘ Man is the only living creature that can 
stand or walk erect. The human skeleton—’ ” 

When there was another knock at the 
door, Sarah started up furiously. 


SARAH LOSES HER TEMPER 63 

“ You can knock all night and I won’t 
let you in,” she shrieked. “ You are all the 
time after me, you — ” 

Again the knob was turned. She did not 
realize that the voice which bade her unlock 
the door was lower and softer than those to 
which she had been listening. She was too 
angry to distinguish one voice from another. 
The girl who had withstood the persecutions 
of an Uncle Daniel would not endure for¬ 
ever the teasing of two girls of her own age. 
She seized her pitcher from the stand. Not 
without much spilling of water on floor and 
bed, she climbed to the footboard. 

66 Will you go ’way, then ! ” 

“ Sarah, open the door.” 

“ I won’t.” And Sarah turned the pitcher 
upside down, its mouth protruding from the 
transom. There was a splash, a quick ex¬ 
clamation, and then a stern command. 

“ Open this door, or I shall send for the 
principal.” 

Sarah moved but slowly, not from choice 


64 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

now, but from fright. A terrible, unbeliev¬ 
able suspicion entered her mind. It seemed 
that her hand would never be able to turn 
the key in the door, that strong little hand, 
which lifted so easily the great, brimming 
pitcher. If it had been the teacher who lived 
downstairs, the cross teacher with the flow¬ 
ered dressing-gown, she could have endured 
it. If it had been the principal himself, it 
would not have been so terrible. But stand¬ 
ing on the threshold, wiping the water from 
her eyes, and with dripping hair and soaking 
shirt-waist, stood Miss Ellingwood. 

Behind her, Ellen Bitter and Mabel Thorn 
twisted their faces to keep from exploding 
in shocked and delighted laughter, and down 
the hall, doors were opening and excited 
voices asked what was the matter. 



ON THE THRESHOLD STOOD MISS ELLINGWOOD 








CHAPTER IV 


SARAH EXPLAINS 

Many years afterward Sarah said that 
nothing in her life had ever frightened her 
like the sight of Miss Ellingwood standing 
outside her door, with the water dripping 
from her hair and dress. Miss Ellingwood 
herself came to laugh heartily at it, but no 
amount of teasing could ever induce Sarah 
even to smile. It seemed an hour until Miss 
Ellingwood spoke, and in that time Sarah 
saw clearly not only the laughing, trium¬ 
phant faces of her room-mates immediately 
before her, but of all the family at home: 
William and Laura, who were sending her 
to school at a great sacrifice, the twins and 
Albert, who had faith in her, and to whom 
she should have been an example. She 
seemed to hear herself trying to explain to 
them. 


66 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

“ You see, it was this way,” she would 
begin. But she never got any further. There 
was no explanation, no excuse to make. 

“This,” they would say, “ this is what you 
do with your education ! ” 

In reality, it was only a moment until Miss 
Ellingwood spoke. Her eyes flashed; it seemed 
to Sarah that they would burn through her. 

“ Come to my room in half an hour. I 
don’t want to hear anything from you now.” 
Then she turned to the girls laughing be¬ 
hind her, and her eyes flashed still more 
brightly. Perhaps it was for their illumina¬ 
tion that the flash existed. “ You have been 
here for a year, and you know the rules of 
the school. Dr. Ellis will hold you responsi¬ 
ble for any misconduct in this room, rather 
than a newcomer.” 

Ellen and Mabel looked at each other 
guiltily as Miss Ellingwood’s door closed 
behind her. Then they went to their own 
room. 

Sarah was not to be seen, and their un- 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


67 


easiness turned to fright. There was no exit 
save through the window, and they were on 
the third floor. It could not be possible that 
she was as badly frightened as that! 

u Sarah ! ” cried Mabel sharply. 

Sarah appeared from the closet. She had 
taken off her school dress, and carried the 
blue one across her arm. 

66 What are you going to do?” asked 
Ellen. 

Sarah did not answer. If she tried to 
speak, she should scream. She would at least 
put on her second-best dress and brush her 
hair before she went to Miss Ellingwood’s 
room. She remembered in agony that she 
had never worn her red dress; probably she 
would never have an opportunity now, at 
least at the Normal School. She looked at 
her little silver watch with eyes which could 
scarcely find the hands. 

Mabel and Ellen avoided each other’s 
glance, and sat down by the table. 

“ What is the History lesson for to- 


68 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

morrow, Sarah? ” asked Ellen in a tone which 
was meant to be conciliatory. 

Sarah silently pushed forward her note¬ 
book. She was dressed now and staring at 
her Physiology. “Man is the only living 
creature that can stand or walk erect.” In 
what long-past stage of her life had she read 
that ? 

At twenty-eight minutes past eight, she 
closed her book and went into the hall, where, 
watch in hand, she lingered outside Miss 
Ellingwood’s door until the hand pointed to 
the half-hour. Then, fearfully, she rapped. 

A low “Come in” answered. It took all 
her strength to turn the knob. She saw no¬ 
thing of the beautiful room with its books, 
its fireplace, its wide and crowded desk, its 
low tea-table; she saw only Miss Ellingwood 
entering from her bedroom beyond, her curls 
wet and shining, clad in a fresh, stiffly 
starched white shirt-waist and a dry skirt. 
She went across to the big chair before her 
desk, and turning her head away, stooped 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


69 


to straighten out some papers. She saw the 
blue dress, and the smooth hair. Both judge 
and defendant, she said to herself, were 
dressed for the occasion. 

“Now, Sarah,” she began, “suppose you 
tell me how it is that an inoffensive non-com¬ 
batant, rapping at your door, is received with 
a shower of water. Your room-mates asked 
me to get you to let them in. They said that 
you had locked them out, and they could n’t 
6tudy. Is this true?” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” faltered Sarah. 

“ Why did you do it ? ” 

“ Because — they — ach ! ” Sarah burst 
into a flood of tears. She did not wish to tell 
on them, she could not bear to recount the 
foolish trick which had been played on her. 
It seemed so ridiculous now to have been 
taken in. It was so absurd, —her anxiety at 
hearing that William had come, her mystifi¬ 
cation at the foolish figure which met her at 
the door, her rage, when she realized what 
they had done. That was worst of all. 


70 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

“Aeh, if you will only let me make it up 
to you,” she cried. “ I will never do such a 
thing again. I will dry your hair if they are 
wet yet, and I could iron your shirt-waist, 
and if it is spoiled, I could try to earn some 
money to buy you a new one. Or William 
would send me the money right away. I 
could give you my umbrella to make up, or 
my f-fountain-pen. They are new— they — ” 

“ Mercy, child ! ” Miss Ellingwood put her 
arm round Sarah, who in her anguish had 
moved close to her side. “ Don’t cry about 
my clothes, please . They are almost dry 
already, and water could n’t hurt them. I ’ll 
forgive you willingly, entirely, Sarah. But 
you must never do anything of the kind 
again. You see the evening study-hour is 
meant for work. You have long hours in the 
afternoon and earlier in the evening to play, 
and all day Saturday, and you need every 
minute in study-hour. By the time you get 
settled to work again, you will have lost a 
whole hour.” 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


71 


“ I know it, I know it! ” wailed Sarah. 
“ That is the trouble. They will not let me 
study. When — when they are out I can 
study, but not when they are with. I will 
have to go home. I am anyhow too dumb 
for anybody to learn me anything.” 

Miss Ellingwood hid her face against 
Sarah’s shoulder. 

“ Say that again, dear.” 

“Ach, I mean I am too — too stupid to 
be taught.” 

“ That is better. Now — ” Miss Ellingwood 
meditated for an instant. She did not ap¬ 
prove of putting three persons into a room; 
even she and Laura had been a little crowded. 
It would be very difficult for this child to 
get into studious habits if she were con¬ 
stantly in the room with Ellen and Mabel. 
They were very evidently not diligent. “ Sup¬ 
pose you bring your books over here this 
evening, Sarah. Perhaps you can study here.” 

Sarah was not gone for two minutes. 
Ellen and Mabel had disappeared, and she 


72 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

gathered her books together, made another 
dab at her hair with her stiff brush, and was 
back. 

Miss Ellingwood had pulled a chair up to 
the side of her own desk. 

“ There, Sarah, is a chair and a foot-stool. 
Now, if I can help you, ask me.” And she 
bent her head over her own work. 

Peace descended upon Sarah’s heart. Once, 
she sighed, and Miss Ellingwood looked up. 
“ Are you tired ? ” 

“ Ach , no! I am just thinking. It is so 
nice and still here. I could learn the whole 
book through.” 

Once she ventured to ask a question. 

“ Please, ma’am, it gives a word here. 
I cannot say it right, s-y-n, swine, t-a-x, tax, 
swinetax. Is that the way to say it? ” 

“ No. S-y-n, sin — syntax. It is not Eng¬ 
lish to say, ‘ it gives a word here,’ Sarah. 
Try again.” 

“ Here is a word,” said Sarah pains¬ 
takingly. “Ach ,— no, I don’t mean ach! 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


73 


But will you tell me sometimes when I am 
wrong? ” 

“ Yes, indeed.” 

Sarah gazed at Miss Ellingwood with deep 
admiration and gratitude, and set again to 
work. She had only the simple Latin rules 
to commit to memory, and then all the les¬ 
sons assigned her would be learned, even 
though it was not until the day after to¬ 
morrow that she recited them. 

But the page of rules was the most diffi¬ 
cult task she had attempted. The words 
seemed to dance before her eyes, the lines were 
crooked, the letters blurred. She propped 
her head on her hand, and rubbed her eyes 
a countless number of times. 

Miss Ellingwood was too much engrossed 
by her task to see. Each year under the di¬ 
rection of the teacher of Elocution, the 
Junior class gave a play. It was given usually 
the week before Christmas, and Miss El¬ 
lingwood had selected an arrangement of 
Dickens’s “ Christmas Carol,” whose spirit 


74 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


was so appropriate to the season. She was 
going over it now, so that the parts should 
be fresh in her mind before she began to get 
acquainted with the Juniors in her classes, 
and she smiled at old Scrooge and sighed 
over Tiny Tim. She had quite forgotten the 
student at her side. 

Then, suddenly, there was a dull little 
bump, as her guest slid from her chair to 
the floor, asleep. Strange to say, the fall 
did not rouse her. Miss Ellingwood thought 
that she must be sleepy indeed. 

“ Come, Sarah,” she said. “ You must 
get up and go to bed.” 

With Miss Ellingwood’s help, Sarah got 
up slowly, and sat down on her chair, and 
was immediately asleep once more. Miss El¬ 
lingwood was a little frightened. The child 
was evidently exhausted, which was not 
strange after her passion of tears. Miss El¬ 
lingwood glanced at her again, then at the 
couch which had been made up for a guest 
who had not arrived. 


SARAH EXPLAINS 75 

In a moment she went down the hall and 
rapped at the door of Sarah’s room. No one 
was within. Smothered laughter a little far¬ 
ther down the hall implied the presence of 
Ellen and Mabel. Miss Ellingwood took a 
few steps in that direction, then returned. 
The warning bell would ring in a moment; 
after that, for fifteen minutes, the students 
were allowed to visit one another. This was 
really the first day of school, and rules were 
not so strictly kept. And Miss Ellingwood 
hated to scold. 

She pushed open Sarah’s door and went 
in, to look for her school dress and the things 
she would need for the night. 

The smothered laughter became open 
shrieks as the warning bell rang. 

“She’s a perfect little spitfire,” Ellen Ritter 
was saying. “I wish you could have seen 
her face when she saw me all dressed up. It 
was white and purple by turns, she was so 
angry.” 

Ethel Davis and Gertrude Manley, going 


76 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


arm-in-arm down the hall, had stopped at 
the door to hear, and the group of sub- 
Juniors opened to let them in. Blonde Ethel 
and dark-eyed Gertrude were Juniors, the 
next year they would be Middlers, and after 
that Seniors, and they sometimes allowed 
the dignity of their position to awe the sub- 
J uniors. 

“I think it was a pretty mean trick to 
play on such a youngster,” said Ethel hotly. 
“ Now, if you had played it on Mabel, or 
Mabel on you, it might have had some point.” 

“ Oh, she can take care of herself,” laughed 
Ellen. “ You need n’t worry about her! Then 
she locked the door, and would n’t let us in, 
and Mabel and I were very anxious to study, 
and — ” 

“ Doubtless,” laughed Gertrude. 

“ Well, we were, and we knocked and asked 
politely to be let in, and not a word would 
she say. So we went over to the new hall 
teacher and told her that we were afraid our 
little room-mate was ill. So she came over 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


77 


and rapped, and there was no answer but a 
wild yell. And then — ” 

Ellen rolled over on the bed, helpless with 
laughter, and Mabel took up the tale. 

“ Then out of the transom came a pitcher¬ 
ful of water, — bang! ” 

“ Not on Miss Ellingwood ! ” said Ethel. 

“ Yes, right on Miss Ellingwood.” 

Mabel’s cheeks were flushed with pleasure. 
Ethel and Gertrude never paid much atten¬ 
tion to her, and it was delightful to have 
them listen so closely. 

“What did she do?” 

“ Told the youngster to come over in half 
an hour, and the youngster put on her Sun¬ 
day dress and went over.” 

“And what then?” asked a breathless 
sub-Junior. “Did Miss Ellingwood nearly 
murder her? That’s what I should have 
done.” 

“ No. I guess Sarah told her the whole 
tale, because in a few minutes she came back 
and got her books, and she ’sbeen over there 


78 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


all evening. There ’ll be no more fun on 
this hall with a teacher’s pet spying on us. 
I suppose Miss Ellingwood will come in after 
the retiring bell, and read us a lecture.” 

But Miss Ellingwood did not appear ex¬ 
cept to say that Sarah would spend the night 
with her, and that she wished everything to 
be very quiet. Mabel and Ellen looked at 
each other after she went out. 

“ What did I say? ” said Mabel. “ She ’ll 
tell everything we do.” 

“ We ’ll settle her,” answered Ellen cheer¬ 
fully. “ Oh, dear, to-morrow the grind be- 
gins! ” 

Sarah did not see the sun rise the next 
morning, nor hear the first sounds of life in 
the great building. She did not even stir at 
the thunderous rising-bell. When she finally 
woke, she saw Miss Ellingwood standing by 
her bed. 

“It’s time to get up, Sarah.” 

Sarah rubbed her eyes. 

“ The rising-bell has rung, dear, and you ’ll 


SARAH EXPLAINS 


79 


just have time to jump into my bathtub 
and then get dressed quickly. Your things 
are all here. ,, 

Sarah looked confusedly about her, while 
she struggled out of bed. 

“ Did I stay here ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ All night?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Did I oversleep myself ? ” 

“ No, you slept till just the proper time. 
Now, run along.” 

It was a pleasure to see the bright eyes 
and glowing cheeks with which Sarah pre¬ 
sently appeared. She had never seen a bath¬ 
room like Miss Ellingwood’s, she had never 
smelled such soap or seen so many mys¬ 
terious brushes and sponges. She had been 
a little frightened by the depth of the cool 
water in the tub which Miss Ellingwood had 
filled for her. She did not like to say that 
she had never been in a bathtub before, be¬ 
cause Miss Ellingwood seemed to expect her 


80 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

to know all about bathtubs. Miss Elling- 
wood bad never lived on a farm. 

Never before had Sarah dressed in such a 
physical and mental glow. She tied the rib¬ 
bon on her hair just as the breakfast-bell 
began to ring. 

“ Come here, and I ’ll button your dress 
for you. I brought your school dress over. 
You poor little chicken, did you think that 
you would make a better impression on the 
ogress if you put on a better dress ? If the 
girls bother you again, you must bring your 
books over here. Now, come along.” 

Sarah drew a deep breath of delight. She 
had never had such a good time. She looked 
once more about the pretty room before the 
door closed. Would she see it again ? And 
then Sarah’s heart was guilty of a very 
wicked wish. 

“ Ach , I wish,” she said to herself, as 
they went downstairs to breakfast, “ I wish 
those girls would cut always up so that I 
could not study! ” 


CHAPTER V 


PROFESSOR MINTURn’s EXPERIMENT 

It needed no “ cutting-up ” of Sarah’s room¬ 
mates to send her again to Miss Ellingwood’s 
room. She had just settled fearfully to study 
the next evening, when there was a rap at 
the door, and Miss Ellingwood appeared. 
She was amused at herself because her room 
had seemed strangely lonely without the lit¬ 
tle figure bending over the table at her side. 

“ Don’t you want to bring your books 
over to my room ? ” she asked; and Sarah 
responded with delighted alacrity. 

When Ellen and Mabel came in and found 
that she had gone, they were not at all 
pleased. They knew that Sarah had finished 
her Geography lesson and they had hoped to 
have some help. When they discovered the 
neatly drawn maps in Sarah’s drawer in the 
table, they decided that they would do as well. 


82 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


“ We ’ll get even with her for tattling,” 
laughed Mabel, as she prepared to copy 
them with tissue paper and black impression 
paper. 

As the days passed, it seemed to Sarah 
that she was living in a new world. When 
she was not in class or in the gymnasium, 
she was in Miss Ellingwood’s room, or walk¬ 
ing with Miss Ellingwood. Miss Ellingwood 
helped her over the hard places in her work, 
she laughed at her mistakes in English, and 
corrected them, she let Sarah help to serve 
the tea when the boys and girls came in in 
the afternoons. 

The Juniors came oftenest; they were in 
Miss Ellingwood’s class, and as the time for 
the giving of the “ Christmas Carol ” ap¬ 
proached, they were there constantly. Sarah 
had read the story; she knew how old 
Scrooge’s sordid heart, devoted to money¬ 
getting, was filled with the Christmas spirit 
by the appearance of his dead partner, Jacob 
Marley, and by the three ghosts of Christ- 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 83 

mas Present, Christmas Past, and Christmas 
Future. Ethel Davis and Gertrude Manley 
were to be Mrs. Cratchit and Fred’s wife, — 
they were the leading women’s parts. To 
Sarah’s thinking, there were no roles so in¬ 
teresting as those of the ghosts, which were 
taken by boys. Their costumes were so won¬ 
derful, they moved about so mysteriously, 
they were able to introduce so many original 
devices. Perhaps next year, if she were pro¬ 
moted to the Junior class, and if there were 
a ghost in the play, Miss Ellingwood might 
give the part to her, and then she would be 
completely happy. 

During the practicing, she took her books 
into Miss Ellingwood’s bedroom, and sitting 
there at her work, she could hear the Juniors 
laughing merrily. When it was time for the 
tableaux, in which Scrooge was to see his 
past and future, and all the harm he had 
done in the present, they opened the door 
into the bedroom, so that they might have a 
double stage. 


84 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

It was then that Edward Ellis, Dr. Ellis’s 
son, who was a Junior and represented 
Jacob Marley, came and stood near Sarah’s 
table and recited his sepulchral part. 

“ ‘ Expect the second spirit on the next 
night at the same hour ! ’” he would say, while 
his chains clanked and rattled, and the blood 
of one hearer, at least, congealed in her 
veins. u c The third upon the next night 
when the last stroke of twelve has ceased to 
vibrate. Look to see me no more; and look 
that, for your own sake, you remember what 
has passed between us.’ ” 

And then, “ the apparition walked back¬ 
ward, and at every step it took, the window 
raised itself a little, so that when the spectre 
reached it, it was wide open.” 

Sarah had heard Miss Ellingwood read 
the directions, and Edward obeyed them with 
many ghostly variations. Once Sarah had 
been called upon to lift the window by jerks 
and starts. 

In the midst of all the delightful excite- 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 85 


ment of school life, Sarah often scolded her¬ 
self for not feeling perfectly happy and 
contented. She was learning more than she 
ever dreamed of learning, she had the con¬ 
stant association of Miss Ellingwood, she 
practically lived in Miss Ellingwood’s luxu¬ 
rious rooms. But she had no life outside them, 
and it was that which troubled her. She re¬ 
alized that there was a great deal of fun in 
the school in which she had no share. There 
were parades which appeared simultaneously 
with the stroke of ten, beginning at the upper 
corner of the woman’s side of the great 
building, and winding in and out the halls, 
and down the stairways, like a long snake, to 
the lower corner and back again. There were 
feasts by day and night; there was dancing 
in the gymnasium after the classes were over. 
Sarah w T as not invited to the feasts, and she 
looked on silently at the dancing. It was 
true that she did not know how to dance, 
but if stout Mabel Thorn could learn, she 
could also, she was sure. She tried the steps 


86 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

sometimes when she was alone in Miss El- 
lingwoocTs room. 

Mabel and Ellen ignored her completely. 
They did not always speak to her when she 
came into the room. Once they allowed her 
to search for her maps, which Ellen had been 
tracing, and which she had hastily covered 
with her papers. Gradually, the whole school 
became aware that her room-mates avoided 
her, and no one was clear-sighted enough to 
see that it was a compliment to Sarah. When 
Ellen and Mabel were called to the office 
and reproved for making unnecessary noise, 
they complained loudly that Sarah had re¬ 
ported them, forgetting the many times that 
Miss Jones had come upstairs in the middle 
of the night to remonstrate with them. The 
other students, even Ethel Davis and Ger¬ 
trude Manley, who thought they were just, 
began to look a little askance at Sarah. No 
fault is more hated by students than tale¬ 
bearing, and no suspicion flies more quickly. 

Ellen’s and Mabel’s rudeness did not trouble 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 87 

Sarah. That did not seem worth worrying 
about. It was her failure to make friends 
with Ethel and Gertrude, and the other 
Juniors whom she so admired, that troubled 
her. Once she had called Ethel by her first 
name, and Ethel had responded with a quick, 
“What did you say, Miss Wenner?” She 
had grown accustomed to having her teach¬ 
ers call her Miss Wenner. But these boys 
and girls, — that was different. 

“ At home,” she said sorrowfully to herself, 
“I was always common” (friendly); “and 
here I am just the same. But these people 
do not like it, they are too high up.” 

It could not he because she was a new¬ 
comer, because they were gracious to other 
newcomers. They called even the careless 
girl who spilled her ink, Mary. They had 
teas in their room to which only newcomers 
were invited, but Sarah was not among them. 
Sarah was convinced that it was some grave 
fault in herself which made them avoid her. 

Fortunately her work occupied most of 


88 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


her thoughts, and when that was over there 
were always her letters home to be written. 
She gave vivid, illustrated accounts of those 
same feasts and parades at which she looked 
longingly, and the home people never guessed 
that it was a lonely outsider who described 
them, sometimes in prose, sometimes in much- 
admired jingle. She even described Ellen 
dressed to represent William, as though it 
were all a great joke, which she had enjoyed 
immensely. She told about Edward Ellis’s 
wonderful “ Bobs,” a collie, who could spring 
up to the low branches of the apple trees in 
the fields at the back of the campus, and 
who could perform many wonderful tricks. 
She drew pictures of him, and of Professor 
Minturn, who strode about the room while 
he lectured, and of the Geography teacher, 
who always folded his hands so precisely, 
and sat so still. 

“ Sarah ’s so dumb, 

It makes him numb,” 

she wrote brilliantly. 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 89 

Laura and the twins wrote to her regularly, 
the twins with wild, childish scrawls, which 
hinted surprises at Christmas, and Laura with 
funny accounts of her own difficulties. 

“ You should have seen my waffles last 
evening,” she would say. “They were black 
on one side and a delicate buff on the other.” 

“ Laura made waffles,” the twins would 
write. “ William ate seven and we four.” 

Occasionally there would come a note in 
William’s clear hand. 

“Enclosed find a little spending-money. 
We hear that you are doing well. Be a good 
girl.” 

It would have been a very ungrateful girl 
who could have been very unhappy after 
that. 

There were Christmas surprises in her cup¬ 
board, also. William’s gifts of money had 
been well spent. On the shelf above the sec¬ 
retary at home, there had stood the battered 
school-books and a worn copy of “ Thaddeus 
of Warsaw.” Poor Thaddeus was to be over- 


90 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

shadowed henceforth by several well-bound 
companions. There was “ Westward Ho ” for 
William, and “Lorna Doone ” for Laura, and 
“ Alice in Wonderland’’ for the twins, and 
a fairy-book for Albert. Rarely does the ap¬ 
proach of Christmas find a person so entirely 
satisfied with her gifts as Sarah was. But 
Miss Ellingwood had selected them, and Miss 
Ellingwood was infallible. 

There was another present which she was 
taking home. She had read halfway through 
the upper shelf of Miss Ellingwood’s story¬ 
books, and she meant to remember them all, 
and then during the vacation, she would sit 
down before the fire after she had washed 
the supper dishes, and she would take Albert 
in her arms, and a twin would perch on each 
side of her on the old settle, and they should 
hear some stories that were stories. 

She had become well acquainted with sev¬ 
eral of the professors who came in to call on 
Miss Ellingwood in the evenings. One was 
Professor Minturn, for whom she had read 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 91 
the paragraph of history on the first day of 
school. He seemed to grow more nervous 
each day, and more certain that his pupils 
might do more work if they would. 

“ That sub-Junior and Junior History 
might just as well he combined/’ he would 
say irritably to Miss Ellingwood. “ Then 
they would finish the American History in 
the sub-Junior year, and a thorough course 
of General History could be divided between 
the Junior and the Middle years. The present 
arrangement is senseless.” 

One day he asked Sarah to remain after 
class. The sub-Juniors looked at one another 
and laughed. By this time, suspicion had 
spread through the whole school. 

“ He probably wants to ask her whether 
you and Ellen study your lessons,” whispered 
Mabel’s neighbor. 

Sarah was startled by the first question 
which Professor Minturn addressed to her. 

“ Are you well? ” 

u Yes, sir.” 


92 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

“ Have you ever been sick ? ” 

“ I had the measles and the mumps.” This 
sounded like the questions of the gymnasium 
director. “ And the whooping cough I had, 
too.” 

“ Do you take regular exercise ? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ You like to study, don’t you? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ I thought so. How should you like to do 
a little extra work for me?” 

All Sarah’s life she had been doing extra 
physical work. She had taken her mother’s 
duties gradually upon her shoulders as she 
became ill; she had then taken a large part 
of her father’s work. But hitherto no one 
had ever complimented her by asking her to 
do extra study. Her cheeks glowed. 

“ I would like it very much.” 

“ Very well,” answered Professor Minturn, 
beaming with satisfaction. “ I wish you to 
prepare eight pages of history instead of 
four. Each day I shall ask you some ques- 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 93 

tions after class.” Professor Minturn smiled. 
He thought that he had discovered a way of 
trying a long-planned experiment. 

The Geography teacher had long since 
noticed that Sarah always knew her lessons. 
One day he asked her in his precise way 
whether she had been over the book before. 

u No, sir. But I studied Geography with 
my father, and it is not so hard for me like 
it is for some people. I know what is in this 
book ” 

The Geography teacher gave her a little 
examination. 

“ Why, I believe you are ready for State 
Board now. There is n’t any reason why you 
should waste your time with this class. How 
would you like to come into the Physical 
Geography class with the Juniors? ” 

Sarah gasped. That would bring her into 
constant association with Ethel and Gertrude, 
the objects of her devotion. 

“ I — I am afraid I am too — too dumb, 
ach , stupid, I mean.” 


94 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

The teacher laughed. All Sarah’s teachers 
laughed at her more or less. It was only 
yesterday that the gymnasium teacher had 
laughed at her because she talked about 
“ planting the smallpox ” when she meant 
vaccinating. 

“ You are n’t too stupid at all,” the teacher 
of Geography assured her. “ To-morrow I ’ll 
speak to Dr. Ellis about it. In the mean 
time, you report with the Juniors.” 

Sarah’s room-mates were not at all pleased 
by her promotion. Hereafter there would be 
no maps lying in her desk ready to he copied, 
and their marks would be materially lowered. 
They felt that her change of classes was a 
personal grievance. 

“No wonder that you get along,” said 
Ellen rudely. “ You are what we call a 
teacher’s pet. The other evening I went to 
Miss Ellingwood’s room to get permission 
to go downstairs, and the Latin teacher was 
helping you. I don’t think it is fair.” 

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, then 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 95 

closed it, flushing scarlet. The Latin teacher 
did help her, but not with her regular les¬ 
sons. His helping her was a joke between 
him and Miss Ellingwood. They had a great 
many jokes together, many of which Sarah 
did not understand. He said that he should 
have to have some excuse for coming to see 
Miss Ellingwood so often; he would pretend 
that Sarah was his pupil. And so he used to 
give her simple sight translations to read. It 
was not part of her daily lesson; with that 
of course he never helped her at all. It was 
true that she studied her Latin grammar 
very hard, so that she should be able to read 
at sight for Mr. Sattarlee without very much 
stumbling, and she paid all the more atten¬ 
tion to her daily lessons. But he did not 
help her with them. 

Ellen’s remark seemed like an accusation 
of dishonesty. But she did not explain, she 
could not. It seemed like disloyalty to talk 
about the Latin teacher and his coming to 
Miss Ellingwood’s room. He seemed to be- 


96 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

long to Miss Ellingwood, and if she were 
kind enough to allow Sarah to be there when 
he came, — and he never came unless Sarah 
was there, — it would be all the more con¬ 
temptible to talk to Ellen Ritter about it. 
Sarah hunted through her drawer for a fresh 
pencil and went back to Miss Ellingwood’s 
room. Her books had not been in her own 
room for a month, nor had she slept there. 

By this time Sarah had begun to think 
that the curriculum was very carelessly 
planned. She was even with the Juniors in 
History and Physical Geography and Latin, 
which were the three most difficult subjects 
of the six which the Juniors had to pass. 

She did not realize that she was growing 
a little tired. She could scarcely keep her 
eyes open until bedtime ; it seemed to her 
that the Juniors, busily practicing for their 
play, or Mr. Sattarlee, calling upon Miss 
Ellingwood, would never go. Gymnasium 
had become more of a bore than ever. She 
disliked it before because it was monotonous; 


PROFESSOR MINTURN’S EXPERIMENT 97 

now her step lagged in the marches and her 
arms fell heavily in the drills because she 
was tired. 

She went walking less often with Miss 
Ellingwood; Miss Ellingwood went with 
Mr. Sattarlee. Miss Ellingwood had begun 
to be a little absent-minded. Perhaps that 
was the reason that she did not notice that 
Sarah’s cheeks had lost their ruddy color, 
and that she no longer ran briskly down the 
hall when she came from class. 

Sometimes, when Miss Ellingwood was 
away, Sarah opened the door and peered out 
into the hall. Down in Gertrude’s room there 
was the sound of merry laughter. She and 
Ethel were constantly inventing some new 
entertainment. Once, when they had put up 
a sign at the corner of the hall, notifying 
the public that they meant that evening to 
gratify a plebeian fondness for Bermuda 
onions and bread and butter, Sarah almost 
went to the feast. The notice begged all 
those who liked onions to come, and warned 


98 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

all others to spend the evening with their 
friends in distant parts of the building. 
Sarah would cheerfully have eaten crow in 
such company. But she did not dare to go. 


CHAPTER VI 


THE (( CHRISTMAS CAROL ” 

To Sarah’s surprise and delight, she had Miss 
Ellingwood almost entirely to herself the day 
of the play. Miss Ellingwood always prided 
herself upon the absence of the mad rush 
which is supposed to accompany and follow 
the dress rehearsal. She was especially anx¬ 
ious that this play should succeed, since it 
was the first appearance of her class. 

The dress rehearsal had been given the 
night before. Sarah had watched it, en¬ 
tranced, from the edge of the stage, where 
she waited for possible errands. The Juniors 
paid no attention to her, but she was too in¬ 
terested to care. The extraordinary make-up 
of old Scrooge, the mysterious gliding about 
of the ghosts, the thrilling tableaux, directed 
by Miss Ellingwood from behind the scenes, 
— Sarah had never dreamed of anything like 


100 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

this. And it would be still more wonderful 
the next night, from the front, when strange 
green and purple lights were to follow the 
ghosts about, and when there would be the 
added excitement of a large audience. This 
would he a story to tell the twins! But could 
the twins be persuaded to believe such won¬ 
ders ? Sarah sighed a little. She was going 
home the day after the play, but it seemed 
weeks ahead. 

Miss Ellingwood slipped into the chapel 
for a last look about before she started with 
Sarah for a walk. She glanced over the pro¬ 
perties,— Scrooge’s bowl of gruel, his candle¬ 
stick, the chains and money-boxes which 
were to be rattled upon the approach of 
Jacob Marley’s ghost, the crutch for Tiny 
Tim, the old clothes for Mrs. Dilber. 

“ It has all gone too smoothly,” she said 
to Sarah. “ There has n’t been a hitch any¬ 
where.” 

“I should think that would be good,” said 
Sarah. 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 101 

Miss Ellingwood shook her head. 

“ No, when things go so well at the re¬ 
hearsal they don’t go so well afterwards, 
usually. At any rate, nobody will be tired.” 

“ The ghosts went skating,” said Sarah. 
“ I saw them go off with their skates, and 
take the car.” 

Miss Ellingwood frowned. 

“ That was a little risky.” Then she ran 
lightly down the steps. “ But they ’ll be back. 
Come on.” She was only a little older than 
the oldest pupil in her classes, and it was 
difficult to be always grave and dignified. 
Dr. Ellis watched her and smiled. 

“ I hope Miss Ellingwood’s preparations 
are all made,” he said to his secretary. 
“ She’s a fore-handed person.” 

The secretary looked up quizzically at the 
sky. He was inclined to be pessimistic. 

“The leading members of the cast have 
gone out to the park to skate. They don’t 
run the cars when it snows.” 

Dr. Ellis also walked to the window and 
looked out. 


102 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


“Was Edward with them?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Then they ’ll be back. Edward knows all 
about the cars.” 

An hour later, Miss Ellingwood and Sarah 
returned, laughing and covered with snow. 
Miss Ellingwood glanced in at the office-door. 

“ Have the boys come ? ” 

The secretary answered her. 

“ No. I should n’t be surprised if they 
did n’t get here.” 

Some of the color faded from Miss Elling- 
wood’s rosy cheeks. 

“But they must . What makes you say 
that?” 

“ The cars don’t run in snows like this.” 

“ But they could get a carriage and drive.” 

The secretary shook his head dolefully. 

“ There are n’t many houses out there.” 

“ But they could walk.” 

“ Not ten miles in this snow. Not in time, 
anyway.” 

Miss Ellingwood spent the next hour look- 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 103 

ing out of the window. The cars from the 
park connected with the Normal School cars 
at the square. At the end of the hour, when 
darkness had fallen and no boys had ap¬ 
peared, Miss Ellingwood slipped into the 
dress which Sarah had laid out for her, and 
ran down to the office. It was still snowing 
heavily. 

“ They’re not here ?” 

“ No.” 

Miss Ellingwood went toward the tele¬ 
phone-booth. There was one way out of the 
difficulty. 

“ I am going to telephone to the car-barn 
and ask them to send out a car. It does n’t 
make any difference what it costs.” 

The secretary threw out a crumb of com¬ 
fort. 

“ Dr. Ellis attended to that, a few minutes 
ago.” 

“ Oh, I’m so glad! ” cried Miss Elling¬ 
wood, with a great rise of spirits. “ Then 
they ’ll certainly be here.” 


104 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

She ate her supper with a good appetite, 
and then went up to the chapel. 

Sarah dressed slowly. Ellen and Mabel, 
having seen the flurry which preceded other 
Junior plays, laughed scornfully. They did 
not like Miss Ellingwood. 

“ It ’ll be a failure,” declared Mabel. “ I 
could manage a play better.” She looked 
impertinently at Sarah. “ Now don’t you go 
and tell her, Sarah.” 

Sarah did not answer. The walk had made 
her tired. She meant to go early to the 
chapel and take a book. Then she could get 
a good seat, and could study her extra his¬ 
tory lesson until the play began. 

She heard voices as she opened the chapel 
door. She thought at first that some one 
had mounted the stage for a final bit of 
practice, then she saw that it was Miss El¬ 
lingwood. Just in front of the stage stood 
Dr. Ellis. 

“ I’ve had a telephone message, Miss 
Ellingwood. They have tried to get a car 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 


105 


out, but they say the snow is so soft and 
heavy that they can’t get out and back be¬ 
fore ten o’clock.” 

“ Then my play is doomed! ” 

“ Is n’t there anything that can be done ? ” 
The principal was much disturbed. He 
prided himself upon the prompt perform¬ 
ance of all school exercises. In this case, 
his own son helped to cause the failure. 

“ Nothing,” answered Miss Ellingwood 
helplessly. “ They have the principal parts. 
They ’re the play.” 

“ Could n’t any one take their places ? ” 
“No, not possibly. All the Junior boys 
are in the tableaux, and anyhow, no one 
knows the lines. I could do it myself, but 
I have to direct behind the scenes. It is 
hopeless.” 

“We’ll have to postpone it till after 
Christmas, I suppose ? ” 

Miss Ellingwood sat down wearily on the 
nearest chair. 

“ Oh, I can’t! All the spirit will have 


106 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 
gone out of it. And it’s a Christmas 

play!” 

“Then we will have to give it up.” 

Miss Ellingwood looked at him dismally. 
Then her brows knitted. Could she take the 
parts ? Could they manage the tableaux 
without her? It would make no difference 
whether the ghosts were men or women. 
Anything would be better than postpone¬ 
ment. 

“Perhaps,” she began slowly. “No, it 
can’t be done. I suppose a notice will have 
to be put up on the door, and if you will 
send Eugene for some of the boys, we will 
straighten up the stage. The case is hope¬ 
less.” 

It was at this moment that little Sarah 
Wenner appeared by the side of the tall 
principal. Her cheeks were flushed, she 
clasped her hands across the bosom of her 
red dress. 

“Is it anything I can do?” she asked. 
“ I know what the ghosts should say, and 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 


107 


where they should stand always. You begin 
here, and then you wheel a little piece up 
there and — Ach , I know it all by heart. 
I heard them say it every evening when they 
practiced. You said — you said — ” 

But the impulsive courage which had 
prompted her speech had fled, her voice 
failed, and she stood abashed, her face grow¬ 
ing scarlet. 

It was several minutes before she dared to 
look up. She expected that Miss Ellingwood 
would reprove her sternly. She knew better 
than to interrupt older persons like that, but 
she had forgotten. She was always forget¬ 
ting. In one awful moment of forgetfulness 
she had emptied a pitcher of water on Miss 
Ellingwood’s head. Her presumption in of¬ 
fering overwhelmed her. They would think 
that she was crazy. If she could only get 
away, where she would not need to look up 
and see the frowns on their faces. 

“Ach ,” she began, “ I do not know what 
I am talking about. Sometimes I act so 


108 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 
dumb. I — ” She backed slowly away. 

« j_” 

Suddenly Miss Ellingwood was at her 
side. She seized her arm, and held her for a 
moment without speaking. 

“ Wait a minute.’’ Then she looked up at 
Dr. Ellis. “ I believe — I believe it could be 
done. Come, Sarah.” 

Dr. Ellis followed them behind the scenes. 

“ Is there anything I can do ? ” 

“ Yes. Postpone the ringing of the bell 
till a quarter after eight. And send all the 
Juniors here at once. Sarah, run up and get 
into your gymnasium suit, and bring two 
stiff petticoats and my long white wrapper, 
and tell Ethel and Gertrude to come as fast 
as they can. Go like a breeze, Sarah dear.” 

Sarah, in the character of Jacob Kalb 
pursuing the twins, never moved faster. 
Ethel and Gertrude, finishing their leisurely 
dressing, watched her fly down the hall, 
after she had summoned them. 

“ That wild youngster’s in her gym suit, 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 109 

and has a lot of white stuff over her arm. 
What can she be up to ? ” 
u Hard to tell. Let’s hurry.” 

When they clambered up to the stage, 
having taken the short cut through the 
chapel, they stood still, gaping. 

Miss Ellingwood’s cheeks were red, her 
hair ruffled. 

“ Robert, you will have to read the part 
of Marley’s ghost from behind the scenes. 
You’ll have to speak as Edward did and 
move about. I ’ll help you. And Sarah 
knows the other parts. As the Ghost of 
Christmas Past, —here, Sarah, is your tunic 
and your golden belt.” Miss Ellingwood 
held up a handful of white and gold, digged 
from the bottom of the property-box. “ It’s 
really better to have a girl for this part. 
Your hair must be down, there! and pow¬ 
dered, and you must make your voice as 
thin and clear as you can. As the Ghost of 
Christmas Present, you will sit here on this 
throne. We will have it turned this way, so 


110 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


that there can be a prompter behind it. And 
as the Ghost of Christmas Future, you will be 
in black. Ethel and Gertrude will help you 
dress, and there will be plenty of time. But oh, 
Sarah, are you sure you know the parts ? ” 

Sarah looked round at the circle of aston¬ 
ished, doubting faces. 

“Yes, ma’am,” she declared solemnly. 
“Believe me, I do.” 

“ Then get into your dress, quickly, and 
then you and Scrooge go over there and go 
over your parts. No, we’ll do it here. If 
anybody comes into the chapel, and over¬ 
hears, he ’ll just have to, that’s all.” 

There were early comers, visitors from 
town, who did not know that the hour had 
been changed. They heard murmurs from be¬ 
hind the curtain, but they laughed and talked 
among themselves, and paid no heed. 

The students did not appear until the bell 
rang. They were thankful for the last mo¬ 
ment to finish a bit of packing or a visit. 
There were no study hours, — this was one 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 


111 


of the great occasions of the year. They did 
not know how narrowly they had missed 
having any play at all, or how its success still 
hung upon the slender thread of a small girl’s 
memory. 

The cheerless, unpleasant room upon which 
the curtain lifted gave no hint of the 
Christmas spirit which already excited the 
great school. Scrooge sat beside his table, 
unshaven, wizened, clad in an old dressing- 
gown and slippers, with a night-cap on his 
head. He was eating a bowl of gruel, and at 
the same time trying to identify the peculiar 
substance of which it was made, and also to 
keep the audience from suspecting that there 
was anything the matter with it. When he 
discovered that it was cotton, he made a re¬ 
solve of revenge upon the Junior girls who 
had prepared it, which had nothing to do 
with the play. It helped him, however, to 
growl out maledictions upon the poor and 
those who relieved their distress. 

It was then that he was disturbed by the 


112 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

clanking of chains and money-boxes, and the 
voice of his old partner, Marley, was heard 
faintly from behind the curtain which divided 
the front and back of the stage. Marley re¬ 
proved him for his grasping, cruel spirit, 
his sordid struggle for wealth, and Scrooge 
cowered and listened in terror to the promise 
of the ghost that he should be visited by 
three others. 

The curtain went down and rose almost 
immediately. There had been only faint ap¬ 
plause. Scrooge had done his best, but the 
ghost, speaking from behind the scenes, had 
not the power to amuse and thrill which he 
would have had if he had been able to appear. 
Miss Ellingwood remembered, with a pang, 
Edward Ellis's delightful vanishing through 
the window. 

Miss Ellingwood’s face was pale. She re¬ 
alized that the first scene had fallen flat. 
And they were depending for the success of 
the second upon little Sarah Wenner, who 
had never even practiced with the rest of the 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 


113 


cast! It had been madness in Sarah to offer, 
it had been worse than madness for Miss 
Ellingwood to accept. 

She peered out from behind the scenes, 
her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. Scrooge was 
in bed, his night-cap tassel nodded from his 
pillow. It was time for Sarah to go on. Direc¬ 
tions trembled on Miss Ellingwood’s lips, but 
she said nothing. It was too late now to 
advise. 

The light was dim, and the audience could 
see nothing but the outlines of the old four- 
post bed, and a faint, tiny, white figure, 
which glided about, now slowly, now swiftly, 
once with a dash of yellow light upon it, 
once with a faint glow of purple. Her dress 
was short, her feet were sandaled, she looked 
even shorter than she was. The audience 
gasped. They thought that Edward Ellis was 
to play the part. Who was this sprite who 
moved about so lightly? They leaned for¬ 
ward breathlessly as the fairy thing ap¬ 
proached Scrooge’s bed, and drew the curtain 


114 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


back. A trembling, faltering voice issued 
from within. 

Are you the spirit whose coming was 
foretold me?’” 

It seemed to Miss Ellingwood that long 
moments passed before the answer came. 
The child had never been on any stage in all 
her life. Miss Ellingwood knew what stage 
fright was. She was suffering from it now 
herself. Then faintly but clearly came the 
answer: — 

“ ‘ I am the Ghost of Christmas Past.’ ” 

“ ‘ Long past ? ’ inquired the trembling 
Scrooge.” 

“‘No, your past. Rise and come with 
me.’ ” 

The lights went out, there was the sound 
of a great wind, then a wild cry which made 
the timid clutch one another’s hands. 

“ ‘ I am afraid! I am afraid! I shall fall.’ ” 

The clear voice answered, “‘Bear but a 
touch of my hand upon your heart, and you 
shall be upheld in more than this.’ ” 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 115 

The curtain before the back of the stage 
was lifted, the light came on slowly. There, 
on the bench in an old-fashioned school¬ 
room, sat a small boy, tired, homesick, for¬ 
lorn. To him entered a little girl, who threw 
her arms about his neck and told him that 
he was to come home. The little boy cried 
happily, and there was a strange echo from 
the front of the stage. 

“ ‘It is I! ’ cried Scrooge. ‘ I and my sis¬ 
ter Fanny.’ ” 

“ c And here?’ said the spirit.” 

The curtain fell and at once was lifted. 

“ 6 My old master Fezziwig! ’ laughed 
Scrooge.” 

The laugh died away at the next scene, 
when he saw once more the girl whom he 
had jilted because she was poor. A wild 
horror was in his voice. 

“ ‘ Leave me, spirit! I cannot bear it! ’ ” 

The spirit in the white dress and with the 
streaming hair had already gone, and Scrooge 
felt his way across the room to bed. 


116 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


When the curtain went up again, it was 
in a blaze of light. The bed-curtains were 
closely drawn, and sitting upon the green 
throne at the other end of the room was a 
little figure in a long green robe. Even now 
her schoolmates did not know her. She 
laughed merrily as she called to Scrooge, 
whose frightened face peered out from be¬ 
tween the curtains. It brightened at sight 
of this cheerful ghost, but not for long. 
The Ghost of Christmas Present had sad 
sights to show. 

The light faded, and though Christmas 
bells rang merrily, one could not hear them 
or enjoy them because of starved, wolfish 
children living in misery, and poor Cratchit 
and his family trying to make merry over 
their goose, while want stared them in the 
face. The audience sighed when the curtain 
fell once more and Scrooge wandered about 
his room alone. 

By this time Miss Ellingwood had dropped 
her book and was devoting her whole atten- 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 117 
tion to the tableaux. They were saddest of 
all now. Sarah was a tall figure without 
shape. Miss Ellingwood had contrived a sup¬ 
port far above her head for the black robe. 
The stage was almost dark, and Scrooge had 
fallen upon his knees, as he watched the 
scenes of future Christmases. 

Tiny Tim, the Cratchit cripple, had died 
from want of care, Scrooge himself lay in 
the churchyard, hideous Mrs. Dilber and her 
friends discussed his scant personal posses¬ 
sions, and the vast amount of his wealth 
went back into his business without ever 
having profited a human soul. 

The audience caught the spirit of Scrooge’s 
horror of himself, of his ecstatic joy at find¬ 
ing that he was still alive, and that there 
was time for him to redeem himself. They 
laughed and applauded, and there were those 
who cried. Then when the applause had died 
down, there was a loud call for the ghosts. 

“It sounds like Edward,” said Miss El¬ 
lingwood. “ Run out and bow, Sarah.” 


118 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

Sarah clutched Miss Ellingwood’s dress. 

“ Ach, I cannot! ” 

“ Yes, dear, you must.” 

In a second she found herself in the mid¬ 
dle of the stage. She saw the laughing, as¬ 
tonished faces, she saw Dr. Ellis applaud¬ 
ing, she saw Professor Minturn smile, and 
back against the wall four tall boys, the real 
ghosts, who had come back at last. Near 
them, there stood some one else, a little 
taller than they, who waved his hand. It 
was William; he had come to take her 
home. Then her fright vanished. She was 
not Sarah any more. She was the Christmas 
Spirit, just as in the old days, when she 
played with the twins, she had been Jacob 
Kalb or Uncle Daniel or the Judge of the 
Orphans’ Court by turns. 

“ Merry Christmas ! ” she cried, and then, 
like Tiny Tim, “ ‘ God bless us, every one ! ’ ” 
Mr. Sattarlee was back of the scenes when 
she returned. He took both her hands in 
his. It was as though she had saved the 


THE CHRISTMAS CAROL 119 

day for him, instead of for Miss Elling- 
wood. 

“ Everybody is coming over to my rooms 
to have something to eat, Sarah, and of 
course we want you.” 

Sarah smiled at him. 

“ I thank myself, ach , I mean I am much 
obliged. But my brother is here, and — ” 

“ We will have him too. We couldn’t get 
along without either of you.” 

Ethel and Gertrude each held out a grate¬ 
ful hand. Even a tale-bearer must have her 
due. 

“You saved the play, Miss Wenner.” 

Sarah’s happy little smile died away. 

“Ach, no, ma’am.” 

But she could not be long unhappy. Miss 
Ellingwood’s hand would not let her go. 
When William came he only said, “ Why, 
you little rascal!” which was praise enough. 
He talked and laughed with Miss Elling- 
wood and Mr. Sattarlee, and made friends 
with the boys, until he grew more wonderful 


120 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

than ever in the eyes of his little sister. She 
sat on the sofa beside Miss Ellingwood, and 
Edward Ellis and the other ghosts told them 
how they had ^walked home, despairing of 
getting there in time, but determined to do 
their best. 

Ethel and Gertrude glanced at them, and 
Ethel shrugged her shoulders lightly. 

“How do you suppose she ever did it?” 
said Gertrude. 

A mocking smile came into Ethel’s blue 
eyes. It was well for Sarah that she did not 
hear; it would have grieved her heart al¬ 
most as much as it hurt generous Ethel’s to 
say a thing so mean. 

“ Is n’t it her usual occupation to listen 
and tell ? ” asked Ethel. 


CHAPTER VII 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 

The fall term of school is a time of adjust¬ 
ment, and the spring term flies so quickly 
that it is hardly begun before it is over. It is 
in winter that most real work is accomplished. 
Then, too, when the days are short, and life 
out of doors does not call so insistently, friend¬ 
ships quicken and school spirit grows. 

Sarah felt very much better after her re¬ 
turn from home. Laura had sternly forbidden 
her to do any heavier work than drying dishes, 
and looking after the twins and Albert, and 
she had told stories to her heart’s content, 
and coasted and skated until she forgot that 
a grammar or a geography ever existed. 

Now she worked diligently. It is safe to 
say that never had one small girl learned so 
much in so short a time. Professor Minturn 
was delighted with* her progress; he regarded 


122 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


his theory that the sub-Junior and the Junior 
History could be combined as already proved. 
The Geography professor cheered her enthu¬ 
siastically on. He had meant to speak to Dr. 
Ellis about her transference from one class 
to the other, but he had forgotten it, and 
Sarah proceeded undisturbed. Mr. Sattarlee 
continued to have her read at sight for him 
in the evenings. He had begun to be really 
interested in seeing how much she could do. 

Class rivalry always came to a head at the 
annual gymnasium exhibition, which took 
place just before the close of the winter term. 
There were performances by individuals, elab¬ 
orate swinging of clubs and heavy work of 
various kinds, Gilbert dancing and intricate 
drills. The class which made the best record 
was given a silver cup. 

Hitherto the cup had always been won by 
the Middle or the Senior class. Each year the 
enthusiastic Juniors made a frantic effort and 
failed. Occasionally they excelled in indi¬ 
vidual work, but the other classes had the 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 123 

advantage of longer team-work in the drills. 
This year the Senior class was weak, and the 
Juniors would have had some hope, had it 
not been that the Middlers were exception¬ 
ally strong. 

By this time the glow which followed the 
Christmas vacation was gone, and Sarah was 
once more a very tired girl. She had looked 
forward to the entertainment for weeks, but 
now that it was at hand, she wished with all 
her heart that she could go to bed instead of 
attending it. 

The sub-Junior girls gave only an ele¬ 
mentary wand-drill at the opening of the ex¬ 
hibition. The audience was still gathering; 
they formed merely the inconspicuous orches¬ 
tra before the beginning of the real perform¬ 
ance. When the drill was over, Sarah was 
glad to climb the steps to the running-track, 
and look down sleepily over the crowd in 
search of Miss Ellingwood. 

The floor of the great gymnasium was di¬ 
vided into two parts. One was left bare for 


124 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

the exhibition; the other was covered by a 
steep tier of seats occupied by the invited 
guests of the faculty and the faculty them¬ 
selves. The students, when they were not at 
work, watched from the wide running-track 
which circled the gymnasium. Its railing was 
gayly decked with school and class banners, 
and it was crowded with close-packed groups 
of enthusiastic boys and girls. Far above in 
the dusk, showed dimly the great beams 
which upheld the vaulted roof. 

Presently Sarah found Miss Ellingwood, 
sitting almost beneath her, with Mr. Sattar- 
lee by her side. Then Sarah grew more and 
more sleepy. She heard the girls of her own 
class whispering round her. Mabel and Ellen 
were near by, but she did not turn her head, 
which rested comfortably against one of the 
upright supports of the great beam. 

Below on the floor the girls of the Middle 
class were beginning an elaborate swinging 
of Indian clubs, moving in such perfect time 
with the music and with one another that 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 125 

the difficult task seemed the easiest in the 
world. Already the girls of the Junior class, 
who were to follow, were quietly slipping 
down the stairs. Sarah saw them dimly, Ethel 
and Gertrude and all the others whom she so 
admired, and who paid no attention to her. 
The fact that she had saved their class play 
seemed to make them not more but even less 
friendly. The tears came into her eyes, and 
she brushed them angrily away. What a 
goose she was! She tightened her hold a little 
on the upright iron, and leaned her head 
against it once more. If she could only go 
over to the Main Building and go to bed! 

Then suddenly she awoke. It seemed to 
her at first that she heard the cheering in 
her sleep; then it grew to a great roar all 
about her. The sub-Juniors beside her were 
cheering, the group of boys of the Middle 
class on the opposite side of the running- 
track were yelling madly, and “ Bobs,” 
Edward Ellis’s collie, who would not be left 
at home, was barking as though he would 


126 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

burst bis throat. Sarah made out the Middle 
class yell: — 

“ Hip, hip, hooray, 

Scarlet and gray, 

We win the day! ” 

Then, looking up, she saw the cause of the 
excitement. Floating proudly from the great 
central beam, far above her head, was the 
scarlet and gray banner of the Middle class. 
The banner must have been rolled up and 
fastened there by some adventurous climber, 
and a cord by which it could be unfurled 
carried down along the supports to the op¬ 
posite side of the running-track. It was no 
wonder that the Middlers had insisted upon 
having that particular spot. The cord had 
unfastened itself properly, and the great flag 
was left free to float back and forth in the 
slight breeze which came in round the many 
tall windows. 

There was a wild yell from the Junior 
class, not of delight, but of disgust and dis¬ 
may, and “ Bobs ” changed his bark to a 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 127 

howl. The trick was a clever one, and it did 
not add to the comfort of the Juniors to 
realize that there was nothing to be done. 
The next number on the programme was 
a minuet by the Junior girls. They would 
have to give it, alas, under the colors of 
their rivals. 

Edward Ellis and half a dozen others tried 
to push their way through the close-packed 
ranks of the Middlers, but Dr. Ellis saw 
them and motioned them back. Meanwhile 
the Middler girls went quietly on, not losing 
a beat of their time. When they finished, 
they marched out amid loud cheers and clap¬ 
ping of hands. 

The sub-Juniors round Sarah were danc¬ 
ing up and down. Traditionally they were 
the friends of the Middle class, and the 
Middle class itself did not enjoy the sight 
of the great banner as much as they. 

“ Won’t the Juniors be furious?” laughed 
Ellen Ritter. “ I can just see Ethel Davis 
and Gertrude Manley when they behold it. 


128 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


And they can’t do a thing. Good for 
’em ! ” 

And the sub-Juniors moved a little far¬ 
ther down the running-track, crowding the 
Seniors behind them, so that they could 
see the faces of the Junior girls when they 
caught the first glimpse of the scarlet 
flag. 

The same flame leaped suddenly in Sarah’s 
heart that had flared before she pursued 
Jacob Kalb with a gun, and before she had 
poured the water out through the transom. 
But this time she deliberated and laid her 
plans more slowly. She owed the members 
of her own class no loyalty. 

She looked up at the great beam far above 
her head. She tried to shake the iron up¬ 
right upon which her hand rested, and found 
it as firm as the boards beneath her feet; 
then she stared up again at the beam and 
down at the floor far below, and her eyes 
brightened. 

There was a Junior flag just under her 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 129 

hand. The Junior class would enter in the 
dark, the lights were to be entirely extin¬ 
guished, so that they could slip to their 
places without being seen, and then the light 
would come, not from the electric globes, 
but from a stereopticon lantern at the end 
of the room, which would throw colored 
lights upon the performers. Sarah knew all 
the arrangements. Already the gymnasium 
director had risen to announce that the lights 
would be turned out, and that no one should 
be alarmed. 

Sarah glanced about once more. It was 
fortunate that she was just above the en¬ 
trance to the dressing-room, and in the most 
undesirable place on the track. There was 
no one within ten feet. She put her hand on 
the belt of her gymnasium suit to be sure 
that the buttons were all tight and that no¬ 
thing should hamper her, and then she 
thought of the tall hickory tree at home, 
up which she had scrambled ever since she 
could remember, and smiled. 


130 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

The row of lights above the running-track 
faded and went out, and she put her arms 
round the slender iron pole. Then those be¬ 
low were darkened, and with a spring her 
rubber-soled feet were on the railing. When 
she felt the great beam, she had one moment 
of awful fright. What if they should sud¬ 
denly turn on the lights and she be discov¬ 
ered hanging in mid-air ? She would not be 
able to keep her hold. There would be one 
agonized moment, then she would drop down, 
down to the floor beneath. 

But the fright did not make her stop. It 
vanished completely when she felt under her 
hands the cord which fastened the flag. 

She did not attempt to untie it, there was 
no time for that. There were two pins on 
the front of her blouse, which had fastened 
on the sub-Junior badge which she had worn 
during her own drill. Wrapping the Middler 
flag round the beam, so that it was com¬ 
pletely hidden, she pinned the Junior flag to 
its edge, and then crept slowly back. She 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 131 

could see far below her the line of dim white 
figures crossing the gymnasium. In another 
instant they would be in their places, and 
then the lights would flare out. 

Thankfully she felt the iron pole beneath 
her feet, and in wild panic slid down, the 
iron burning her hands like steam. Then 
she stood holding desperately to it, pant- 
ing. 

It was the man who managed the stere- 
opticon who revealed the new banner. The 
Junior girls in their white dresses wove back 
and forth in intricate figures, now in the 
gleam of violet, now in the glow of rose- 
color. Now they spread out from one end of 
the wide floor to the other, now they were 
close together. Presently there was a glow 
of yellow light which illuminated the whole 
gymnasium and rested especially upon the 
high beam. The stereopticon man had no 
sympathy with any particular class. He real¬ 
ized that the scarlet and gray flag was an 
object of interest, so he trained his light 


132 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 
upon it. Every eye in the gymnasium was 
lifted at once. 

Bedlam broke loose, after an instant’s 
pause, during which faculty and students 
and guests stared open-mouthed. Where was 
the Middler banner? Who had dared to climb 
out there and remove it? And who had 
hung the Junior banner there ? 

“ Light blue and white, 

We ’re all right! ” 

roared the Junior boys. 

“Wow, wow, wo-o-ow,” howled “Bobs.” 

“ Bang, bang, bang,” played the pianist, 
in a noble effort to be heard above the din. 
Only the Junior girls seemed undisturbed. 
They wove more intricate evolutions, deaf to 
the piano as they were; their powdered heads 
bowed to one another, their motion seemed 
to grow more light and fairy-like. Presently 
one of them glanced upward, then another, 
and some one smiled faintly, and without an¬ 
other sign, they went on with more spirit 
than ever. 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 133 

A Middler started at once to climb the 
pole, but was ordered back. Then another 
tried it, and was sternly reproved. The flag 
must hang there now, there would be no 
more seasons of convenient darkness in which 
it might be torn down. The Junior girls 
marched out, Ethel Davis and Gertrude Man- 
ley leading, as they led most affairs in their 
class. 

Now it was the turn of the Middler boys 
to take a taste of their own medicine, and 
give their drill under a rival banner. They 
gritted their teeth angrily. The displacement 
of their flag disturbed them sorely. The 
cup was theirs already, they were sure of 
that, but the celebration with which they 
meant to mark their victory was spoiled. 

Anger may be a spur in a long jump or 
in putting the shot, but it does not conduce 
to good team-work. One of the Middlers 
lifted his clubs too swiftly, another too 
slowly, and they did not begin in good form. 
And then there was the click of club 


134 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

against club, an evidence of carelessness 
of which not even the sub-Juniors would be 
guilty. 

A giggle spread along the line of the 
Juniors. The audience heard and the Mid- 
dlers themselves heard, and their faces grew 
hot and their hands unsteady. There was 
a bang, a crash, and an Indian club flew in 
a wide curve, and sailed through the glass 
door which opened into the director’s office. 
It was an unpardonable crime. 

“ Attention ! ” cried the director. u Clubs 
at rest, right face, march.” 

For the first time in the history of the 
school a Middle class had failed, and the 
Juniors had won the cup. 

Sarah had slipped to the rear of the group 
of her classmates. She was desperately tired, 
and her hands burned like fire. If she could 
only go to bed! But no one was expected 
to leave until the end. It seemed to her that 
minutes lengthened into hours and still the 
entertainment dragged on. 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 135 

All round her she heard excited inquiry. 
What Junior had crept out on the beam? 
Was it Edward Ellis ? 

“ You did n’t see a Junior go up this side, 
did you, Sarah ? ” asked Mabel Thorn ; and 
Sarah answered with a truthful and weary 
“No” 

She had sat down on the edge of a spring¬ 
board, she did not hear even the loud cheer¬ 
ing which followed the handing of the cup to 
the Junior president. There was a rush for 
the stairs, and she was carried on unresisting. 
Then she slipped aside and opened the door 
leading to the lower floor. From there a nar¬ 
row passageway ran between the swimming- 
pool and the girls’ dressing-room and thence 
led out of doors. The main exit was jammed 
with arguing, cheering students; she could 
not go out that way. 

As she passed the door of the girls’ dress¬ 
ing-room, she heard the same excited ques¬ 
tions shouted back and forth. Ethel and 
Gertrude were laughing and talking as they 


136 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

struggled out of their long cheese-cloth 
dresses. Suddenly one of them called to 
her: — 

“ Who are you, out there ? Suppose you 
come in and untangle me!” 

Sarah knew well enough that if they had 
known it was she they would not have called 
her. Nevertheless, she went in and asked 
what she could do. 

“ Oh,” said Gertrude, “ is it you, Miss 
Wenner? Please unpin this down the back.” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” answered Sarah. 

She could scarcely open her hand; it felt 
as though there were not a fragment of skin 
left on the palm, but she struggled bravely 
with the stubborn pins. It seemed to her a 
long time until she was able to extract the 
first one. 

“ There is one out already,” she said 
faintly. 

Ethel turned to look at her and then came 
a little closer. 

“ What’s the matter? Look at me, child! ” 


SARAH SAVES THE DAY ONCE MORE 137 

The word slipped out involuntarily, and she 
corrected herself at once. “ Miss Wenner, 
what is the matter ? Let me see your hand.” 
And Ethel seized it and pointed to the white 
dress. There was a slow-spreading, scarlet 
stain on it. 

“No,” cried Sarah. “Leave me go. It is 
nothing. I — I just skinned myself a little. 
I—” 

Ethel firmly opened her fingers. Then 
Gertrude looked at her other hand. It too 
was bleeding. 

Sarah tried to pull her hands away. 

“ Ach , it is nothing. Leave me be ! ” 

“ It looks to me — ” began Ethel slowly. 

“ As though you had been sliding down 
the pole in the gym,” finished Gertrude. 

“ I skinned my hand there once before I 
learned how,” said Ethel. “But the gym 
has n’t been open for practice to-day, and this 
has just been done. How did you do it ? ” 

Sarah had lost all power to struggle. 

“Ach, it is nothing! ” 


138 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


Gertrude gasped. 

“ Did you climb up that pole and put our 
flag on the beam ? ” 

“ Answer her, please,” commanded Ethel. 

“ Yes, ma’am.” 

“ Why?” 

“ Because — because — Ach, leave me 
go! 

The great low-ceiled locker-room was grow¬ 
ing dim. Sarah tried to jerk away. This time 
it was not embarrassment but terror which 
gave her strength. 

“ You have n’t any business to talk to me 
like this. I did it because I did n’t want to 
see you drill under that other flag. I hate 
that other flag. And I hate — ” Sarah took 
a deep breath. Her heart felt like a hard 
lump in her breast. There was a red flaming 
light before her eyes, — “ I hate you ! ” 


CHAPTER VIII 


THE RESULT OF PROFESSOR MINTURN’s 
EXPERIMENT 

It was a long time before either Ethel or 
Gertrude answered. They had not been more 
surprised at sight of the Junior banner above 
their heads. They were both accustomed to 
being liked, not hated. 

“ What makes you say that ? ” asked 
Ethel. 

Her cheeks were hot. Sarah’s climbing to 
the roof of the gymnasium was not in accord 
with the character which she bore in the 
school. Certainly that was not the way to 
please teachers, or to win their favor for her¬ 
self. 

Sarah’s voice shook. She did not feel the 
pain in her hands. The lights had gone out, 
and they seemed to be alone in the locker- 


room. 


140 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


“ Because I meant it.” Then good Eng¬ 
lish flew to the winds. “ You are all the time 
cross over me. You are too high up. I am 
dumb and I can’t always talk right, and I 
come from Spring Grove post-office, but 
I don’t do you anything. I never did you 
anything. I — ” 

There was the spurt of a match, and Ger¬ 
trude lit the gas. Then she laid her hands on 
Sarah’s shoulders and turned her to the light. 
Her voice trembled also. 

“ Look here. You ’ve been frank, and I 
shall, too. Hid you ever report your room¬ 
mates for making a noise? ” 

“No.” The answer was explosive. 

“ Do you tell Miss Ellingwood everything 
that you can find out ? ” 

Sarah laughed hysterically. “ I don’t find 
out anything to tell her. How should I ? ” 

“ Did you never tell her about your room¬ 
mates ? ” 

“ I never say nothing from them at all to 
nobody. I leave them alone. But they won’t 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 141 


leave me alone. They made me throw water 
on Miss Ellingwood, they made me —” She 
looked about so wildly that the girls were 
frightened. 

Gertrude put a steadying arm round her. 

“ You were right. We have been mean.” 

Sarah looked at her piteously. “Ach, I — 
I should n’t have talked so. I — ” 

Ethel looked gravely into Gertrude’s eyes. 

“Yes, you should,” she said to Sarah. 
“ Now, come over to our room and I ’ll tie 
up your hands for you. You must n’t tell 
anybody that it was you that slid down the 
pole.” 

“ No, ma’am. I wish I could go in my bed. 
If I don’t go in my bed, I won’t know my 
lessons for to-morrow.” 

“You shall go to bed.” 

But Miss Ellingwood’s room was crowded 
with guests, and there was the sound of many 
voices in Sarah’s. 

“ It is no place I can sleep,” she cried. 

The pain in her hands had come back, and 


142 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

made her feel faint. It seemed to her that 
she should die if she could not sleep. 

“ Yes, there is,” said Ethel and Gertrude 
together. 

And so with peaceful heart and bandaged 
hands, Sarah slept in Ethel’s bed, while Ethel 
and Gertrude whispered together across the 
room. 

“It was in the air,” said Ethel. “Every¬ 
body distrusted her.” 

Gertrude sat up in bed. “ I think we ’ve 
been hateful, hateful ,” she said. “Listen!” 

“ Some people always talk in their sleep,” 
answered Ethel. “ I guess she’s tired, poor 
child. I’m not sleepy, are you?” 

“ No,” said Gertrude, “ I’m ashamed. Are 
you?” 

Following the gymnasium entertainment 
came a few days of examinations, then a day 
of hurried packing, before the scattering of 
five hundred boys and girls to their homes 
for a week. Sarah was to go home; she had 
been thinking for a long time of the snow- 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 143 

drops which would he in bloom on the 
south side of the house, and the daffodils 
which must be poking up through the earth. 
But now at the last moment, she did not 
seem to care. If they would only let her 
go to bed and sleep and sleep! She feared 
that some day she might drop over asleep 
where she stood, and frighten Miss Elling- 
wood and Ethel and Gertrude. How absurd 
it would be to fall asleep in the middle of 
the day! Mabel Thorn and Ellen Ritter 
often took naps after dinner, but Sarah had 
not slept in the daytime since she was a 
baby. 

If she had been a little older or a little 
less forgiving, she might have been slower 
to accept the friendship of Ethel and Ger¬ 
trude, offered at once in many penitent and 
friendly ways. But almost immediately the 
hardness went out of her heart and the tre¬ 
mor from her voice when she saw them or 
spoke to them. Finally she felt the same 
soft, happy thrill of relief that she had felt 


144 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


when Aunt ’Liza appeared with her gift of 
cake and schnitz. 

“ Nobody is cross over me, and I am not 
cross over anybody,” she said to herself. 

And in a day or two she did tumble over 
as she had feared. Ethel and Gertrude were 
waiting for her on the steps. She was going 
with them to the shop to order viands for a 
feast to be held in their room that evening. 
Miss Ellingwood had gone walking, and 
Sarah grew heated and impatient over the 
fastening of her sailor suit, and the tying 
of her red scarf. 

She did not wait for the elevator, but 
ran downstairs, jumping over the last step of 
each flight, and then going more sedately out 
past the office door. She remembered after¬ 
wards that she had felt a little dizzy, and 
that she had once put out her hand to steady 
herself. She saw Professor Minturn coming 
toward her on his way to the faculty meet¬ 
ing in the office, and she tried to straighten 
up and bow to him. Instead, she pitched for¬ 
ward at his feet. 


/ 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 145 

In one step, Professor Minturn was beside 
her. He expected to see her scramble up, 
red-faced and embarrassed. 

“ Oh, I hope you haven’t hurt yourself! ” 
he began to say. 

But Sarah did not move. 

“ Miss Wenner ! ” he said, in a tone which 
brought Dr. Ellis and the Secretary and Eu¬ 
gene hurrying from the office. By that time, 
he had lifted her from the floor. 

“ She seems to have fainted,” he said. 

Dr. Ellis swept a pile of catalogues from 
the office-sofa. 

“Lay her down there, Minturn. Eugene, 
get some water.” 

The color was coming back faintly to 
Sarah’s cheeks when Miss Ellingwood walked 
in. Then it vanished once more, and she 
lay limp and deadly white. 

“ Telephone for Dr. Brownlee,” commanded 
Dr. Ellis. “ Ah, there, she’s opening her 
eyes. Look here, Sarah! ” 

Sarah smiled faintly. 


146 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

“I feel so — so — queer/’ she whispered. 
16 1 would like to go in my bed.” 

“ You shall,” Dr. Ellis assured her. “ Eu¬ 
gene, do you think you can carry her up¬ 
stairs?” 

Professor Minturn held out his arms. He 
was frowning; he felt suddenly a great anx¬ 
iety and uneasiness. But he was sure that he 
had asked the child whether she was well; 
he could not have been so careless as to give 
her extra work without ascertaining that. 
She had always looked strong. He could not 
believe that this pale child could be that 
same rosy-cheeked little girl who had worked 
with such spirit. 

“ Let me take her upstairs,” he said ner¬ 
vously. 

By the time he returned, Dr. Brownlee 
was coming in at the front door. 

“ You ’ll come down and tell us at once 
how she is and what is the matter, doctor?” 
he said. “ She’s a favorite pupil of mine.” 

Then he went in and took his seat by the 



SHE SEEMS TO HAVE FAINTED 


SSmHBmBI 









THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 147 

window in the faculty room, among his col¬ 
leagues who were waiting for him, and the 
meeting was called to order. 

Dr. Brownlee tapped at the door before 
the business was fairly begun. 

“ I beg your pardon,” he said. “ I thought 
I could get back before your meeting was 
in session.” 

“Come in,” invited Dr. Ellis. “How is 
your patient? What is the trouble ?” 

Dr. Brownlee’s answer was prompt and 
to the point. 

“ Overstudy.” 

“ Impossible ! ” answered Dr. Ellis just 
as promptly. “ She is a sub-Junior, and the 
sub-Junior branches are not hard, and she 
is a bright girl and was well prepared.” 

Dr. Brownlee did not like to be contra¬ 
dicted. 

“She’s been talking incoherently about 
extra history and extra geography and extra 
something else. I don’t remember what the 
other is. She does n’t look like a girl who 


148 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

should have any extras of any kind. At least 
not now. I don’t know what she looked like 
when she came here.” 

“ She looked like a strong, healthy coun¬ 
try girl. She was slender, but she looked 
well. She has had regular exercise in the 
gymnasium, and she has n’t had any extra 
work to do, I am positive.” 

Professor Minturn rose suddenly. 

“I have always had a theory that the 
sub-Junior and the Junior History could be 
advantageously combined. I thought Miss 
Wenner was a good subject upon whom to 
try it. I see now that I was wrong.” And 
he sat down and stared out the window. 

The teacher of Geography got more 
slowly to his feet. 

“ I meant to report to you, Dr. Ellis, but 
I forgot it, that Miss Wenner had been tak¬ 
ing the Junior Geography. She was consid¬ 
erably ahead of the sub-Junior class, and so 
I allowed her to begin the Physical Geogra¬ 
phy, and perhaps she has been going a — a 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 149 

little faster than the — the rest of the class. 
She was so enthusiastic, it was a pleasure to 
teach her. I — I have never had a pupil like 
her.” 

Dr. Ellis smiled queerly. 

“Are there any more confessions to be 
made ? ” 

Young Mr. Sattarlee rose from his place 
at the back of the room. He did not look 
at Dr. Ellis, or at any of his colleagues, but 
stared straight over their heads. There was 
no one in the room who did not know of his 
devotion to Miss Ellingwood, and Sarah’s 
constant association with her. 

“ She has been reading a little Latin at 
sight for me,” he said. “ She did it very 
well.” 

“ She seems to have done very well for 
all of you,” said Dr. Ellis grimly. “ I wish 
that I could feel that we had done as well 
by her.” 

Dr. Brownlee stood motionless at the door. 
He was polite enough not to say, “ I told 


150 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 
you so,” though restraining himself must 
have cost considerable effort. 

“ Put her to bed at once over in the In¬ 
firmary where it’s quiet,” he commanded. 
“I’ll see the nurse. And keep her there 
for two weeks. Then, if she goes slowly for 
the rest of the year, doing only her own 
regular work, and that as easily as possible, 
she ’ll get through without any injury to 
herself. Don’t let her go home for the vaca¬ 
tion. She is n’t fit for the journey or the 
excitement of seeing people. I ’ll be down 
to-morrow morning again. Good-by.” 

At first Sarah lay very still and stared at 
the infirmary ceiling. She did not remember 
being carried thither, and it seemed to her 
that she spent days in trying to realize where 
she was. She remembered afterwards that 
she was constantly disturbed by a person in 
a white dress who insisted that she must eat 
and drink when she did not wish to eat and 
drink. 

“It is very good,” the person in white 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 151 

would say coaxingly, and Sarah would rejoin 
politely but a little wearily, — 

“Is it so ? Then won’t you please eat it ? 
I don’t want to eat.” 

But all her protestations made no differ¬ 
ence ; the hot broth or cold milk was poured 
down her throat. 

Once a tall man spent several hours by 
her bed, and fed her and held her hand and 
was very strong and comforting. After he 
had gone she said to the nurse, as though 
she had made a great discovery, “ Why, that 
was William!” and the nurse laughed and 
said, “ Yes.” 

Slowly she began to distinguish other 
faces, those of three repentant professors, 
who brought her flowers and sent her fruit 
and squab, and Miss Ellingwood, equally re¬ 
pentant and even more attentive, who made 
Sarah proud by whispering to her that she 
was going to marry Mr. Sattarlee, and that 
no one but Sarah was to know it until school 


was over. 


152 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


Presently Ethel and Gertrude came, one 
at a time, and one day, after she was sitting 
up, Edward Ellis, with his mother and an 
armful of flowers. 

“ I never knew that being sick was like 
this! ” she said to her nurse. 

“ It is n’t for everybody,” answered the 
nurse, smiling. 

At the end of two weeks she was allowed 
to get up, and even to study a little. Every 
one was anxious to help her. Eugene sprang 
to take her up in the elevator, even though 
it was not elevator hours, and Mabel and 
Ellen said awkwardly that if she would come 
back and sleep in her own room they would 
be very quiet. Fortunately, they made the 
offer before Miss Ellingwood, who said at 
once that she could not spare Sarah. It was 
amazing how the sentiment of the school had 
changed during her illness. 

Dr. Ellis stopped her and spoke to her 
whenever he met her in the hall, and one 
day he asked her to come into his office. 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 153 

“ Sarah,” he said, “ I had a talk with 
your brother about you, and what he told 
me made me very proud to have you here, 
and more sorry than ever that between us 
we should have let you get sick. Now 
every Monday morning I want you to 
come in and report to me how you feel. 
No, we ’d better make it Friday evening. 
One is most apt to be tired on Friday 
evening. And Sarah,” — he smiled at the 
sudden flush of frightened color, — “you 
won’t climb any more gymnasium beams, 
will you? ” 

Sarah clasped her hands. 

“AcA, no ! I— I was up before I thought. 
That is the trouble with me. I do things 
before I think always. I—I promise.” 

She went out of the office with her old 
swift step. She felt almost entirely well 
physically. Mentally, she seemed a stranger 
to herself. Her illness, her watching Miss 
Ellingwood’s happiness, her association with 
the older girls, made her feel grown up. She 


154 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 
was homesick for the twins and Albert and 
the farm and her old, childish self. 

The solicitude of the professors was amus¬ 
ing to see. 

“ You have been over the year’s work,” 
Professor Mint urn reminded her. “ Now you 
will have to do only a little reviewing, just 
a little each day, Sarah.” It was strange 
how to faculty and girls alike she had be¬ 
come Sarah instead of Miss Wenner. “ You 
need n’t come to class regularly. You can 
spend that time in study, and I will give 
you a shorter recitation by yourself.” 

“ Ach , no, I thank you ! ” cried Sarah. It 
was only under special stress of surprise or 
gratitude that she said ach now. “ I will 
come to class, thank you.” 

The Geography teacher said that he would 
go over all the Political Geography with her, 
and Mr. Sattarlee did not say a word to Miss 
Ellingwood in the evenings until he had 
heard Sarah’s Latin lesson for the next day. 
It must have been a good deal of a sacrifice, 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 155 

for they had many things to say to each 
other. 

And day by day the spring passed. The 
maples on the campus budded and burst into 
full leaf, the oaks and hickories followed 
more slowly. The air was full of the song 
of birds and the scent of flowers, and slowly 
the ruddy color came back to Sarah’s cheeks 
to stay. 

But she was strangely nervous. Each 
hour that brought home and summer nearer 
brought also the dreaded ordeal of State 
Board examinations a little closer. One might 
study faithfully through the year, and pass 
the faculty examinations brilliantly, and one’s 
efforts count for nothing unless the state also 
put its seal upon the results. And Sarah be¬ 
came each day more certain that she should 
not pass. 

“ It’s exactly like a funeral,” wailed Ethel 
Davis. “They come on Wednesday night, 
seven of them, county superintendents and 
Normal School principals, and the next 


156 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

morning they begin to examine us, and in the 
afternoon they examine us again, and then 
they give us ice-cream for supper when no¬ 
body has any appetite for ice-cream, and in 
the evening sometimes there are left-over 
examinations, and then we spend the whole 
night worrying for fear we have n’t passed, 
and they spend the whole of the next day 
correcting papers, — I’m always glad when 
it’s sweltering hot! — and then they insult 
us by giving us more ice-cream for supper, 
and then we go into the chapel to hear 
whether we have passed.” 

“ I won’t pass,” said Sarah in despair. 
“ I can’t pass.” 

Ethel laughed. 

“ Nonsense ! Of course you ’ll pass, child. 
Why, you have only Spelling and Political 
Geography and Arithmetic and Physiology 
to pass. And you always know your Spell¬ 
ing, and you ’re ahead in Geography. You 
are a little gosling. Now suppose you had 
six branches, Latin and History and Physi- 


THE RESULT OF THE EXPERIMENT 157 

cal Geography and Grammar and Drawing 
and Civil Government. What would you do 
then, young lady?” 

“ I should die,” said Sarah solemnly. 

“ But you ’ll have them next year.” 

“ No,” answered Sarah. “ I do not believe 
I will be here next year. The twins must 
soon have their chance. I cannot take two 
years to one class. And if they did let me 
come back, I would be taking Arithmetic 
and Spelling and Geography and Physiology 
over again, and you and Gertrude would be 
two classes ahead of me. That is the way it 
would be.” 

Ethel looked at her sharply. 

“ You come out for a walk,” she said 
cheerfully; and she took Sarah’s books al¬ 
most by force. She and Gertrude had had 
a talk with Dr. Ellis, and no dragons could 
have insisted more firmly than they upon 
the carrying out of both the letter and the 
spirit of Dr. Brownlee’s directions. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE STATE BOARD 

There was a tradition that the day of the 
State Board examinations was always fair. 
This year it was not to be belied. Sarah, 
who had been awake since before daylight, 
watched the sun rise, clear and bright, as 
she dressed. Miss Ellingwood slept peace¬ 
fully in her room next door, and the morn¬ 
ing sweeping and dusting in the halls had 
not yet begun when Sarah sat down on the 
window-seat with a pile of books before her. 
There were a dozen things at which she 
wished to take a final look. Even her confi¬ 
dence in the Wenner ability to spell had van¬ 
ished under the strain of the last months, 
and she meant to glance rapidly through at 
least half the book. The thought of Arith¬ 
metic plunged her into despair; there was 
no use in trying to review that. But she 


THE STATE BOARD 


159 


could take a final look at the Geography and 
the Physiology. 

Then, strange to say, she did nothing but 
sit still and look out over the dewy campus 
until it was time to go to breakfast. 

“ How do you feel ? ” asked Miss Elling- 
wood. 

“ Scared,” answered Sarah, trying to smile. 

The members of the Board breakfasted at 
the Secretary’s table, which was next to Miss 
Ellingwood’s. Sarah, who could not keep her 
eyes away from them, felt that there was a 
terrible menace in the way they laughed and 
joked with one another. Only exceedingly 
hard-hearted persons could laugh that way 
just before they assisted in such an inquisi¬ 
tion as their examinations were said to be. 
There was one tall, brown-bearded man at 
the head of the table, who looked about 
smilingly at the whole dining-room; he doubt¬ 
less imposed the most difficult questions of all. 
He made Sarah tremble. 

If only the day were over and she knew 


160 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

finally and certainly that she had not passed! 
They would be glad to see her at home, 
whether she succeeded or failed; and she 
could hide her stupid head at the farm, and 
the twins could have her chance. She tried not 
to think of how wretched she would be if 
she could never come back. She would never 
see Ethel and Gertrude again, she would 
never be able to think of the school with 
pleasure. She remembered often that Laura 
had said that coming back to school was 
like coming back home. And Laura did not 
have as many ties as Sarah had and would 
have. Both William and Laura had gradu¬ 
ated there, and eventually the twins and 
Albert would come too. Was she to disgrace 
them all? 

Suddenly her sad meditations were inter¬ 
rupted by Miss Ellingwood. 

“ You must eat, Sarah. Finish your coffee 
at least. See, they don’t look so awesome, do 
they?” 

The brown-bearded Chairman heard, and 


THE STATE BOARD 


161 


turned to Miss Ellingwood and laughed, and 
then went on to speak in a round, friendly 
voice. He had a strangely familiar accent. 
He spoke a little as Sarah’s father had spoken, 
and as Henry Ebert and Uncle Daniel and 
the other Pennsylvania Germans spoke. 
Sarah thought that he might have come from 
Spring Grove itself, and was not far wrong, 
for he had learned his Pennsylvania-German 
accent in another little town when he was 
a boy, and would never lose it. He had evi¬ 
dently, also, the Pennsylvania-German fond¬ 
ness for a joke. 

“ Is she afraid we ’ll eat her up, Miss El¬ 
lingwood? ” he asked; at which a good deal 
of Sarah’s fright evaporated. 

The chapel exercises were more solemn 
than usual. It was a little like a service be¬ 
fore going into battle. At the door, Sarah 
found Dr. Brownlee waiting to talk to her. 
He felt her pulse, and laughed at her fright¬ 
ened “ Did you ever have to take such ex¬ 
aminations? ” and told her that if she did n’t 


162 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


pass, he ’d give her still more bitter medicine. 
Sarah almost skipped as she ran along the 
board-walk to the recitation building. 

The seats, which were assigned in the 
largest class-rooms, were not given accord¬ 
ing to classes. Sarah was in the back of the 
great Drawing-room, a Junior boy beside her, 
a Senior in front of her. Clutched in her hot 
hand was her fountain-pen, a blotter, three 
newly sharpened pencils, and two erasers. If 
Sarah failed, it was not to be for lack of tools. 
Even Edward Ellis, who sat next her, w r as 
subdued, and gave her only a faint smile as 
she arranged them on her desk. 

In the front of the great room, Dr. Ellis 
talked to the Board of Examiners. This was 
the main examination room; from here all 
the papers were given out, and thither they 
were brought when collected. Sarah watched 
the men absently, half of her mind trying to 
bound China, when suddenly they all turned 
and looked in her direction, and the man 
with the brown beard smiled. Sarah was ter- 


THE STATE BOARD 


163 


ror-stricken. Was the principal telling them 
that she would not pass ? Perhaps he would 
come to her and say that it was hardly worth 
while for her to try. Sarah did not blame 
her teachers for her breaking down; in her 
opinion it was her own natural “ dumbness.” 

But the examiner who distributed the 
papers had already left one on her desk, 
and she seized it, and gazed at the printed 
questions. At first they looked entirely un¬ 
familiar. The two battles of Saratoga? Was 
it part of Geography or Physiology ? It was 
certainly neither Spelling nor Arithmetic. She 
frowned and the questions seemed to vanish, 
and a blank page to stare her in the face. 

Then, suddenly, she remembered. The 
battles of Saratoga took place on September 
19 and October 7, 1777. But it was a His¬ 
tory question, and in History one was not 
examined until the end of one’s Junior year. 
History was one of Ethel’s and Gertrude’s 
subjects. But Sarah was not there to reason, 
but to obey. She remembered her extra les- 


164 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


sons, took courage, and read another ques¬ 
tion : “ Mention four causes of the Civil 
War.” That was easy! And there were only 
five questions in all. 

Presently, when she had answered three, 
she ventured to lift her head. Another paper 
had been laid on her desk. A new exam¬ 
iner had just passed, his head turned toward 
the other side of the room, as he answered a 
question from one of the Seniors. This was 
a double paper : there were four questions in 
each of two branches, Arithmetic and Phy¬ 
siology. To Sarah’s great joy, these seemed 
even less difficult. She finished the first pa¬ 
per and attacked the second. Before she had 
quite finished, the first examiner came to 
collect, and with a long sigh she passed in 
all the papers. She saw Mabel Thorn and 
Ellen Ritter get up and go out, and with 
them other sub-Juniors, but she did not stir. 
She would wait until she was told to go. If 
perseverance would help her through, that 
should not be lacking. 


THE STATE BOARD 


165 


The distributor of papers looked at her a 
little sharply as he went by. 

“Physical Geography?” he asked. 

“ Yes, sir/’ answered Sarah indistinctly. 
She was beginning to be confused. She 
could not remember whether she was to be 
examined in Physical Geography or not, but 
at least she would try. There were questions 
in Latin on the same paper, and a half page 
of translation. The translation was easy. She 
remembered having read the little story with 
Mr. Sattarlee. But she could not understand 
why they should give her a Latin paper. 
When one was given extra studies by mis¬ 
take, did one have to take examinations in 
them? 

She was afraid to ask questions. Mabel 
Thorn had asked whether she must answer 
all the questions in order to pass, and the 
examiner had not answered her very plea¬ 
santly. Evidently they did not like to be 
questioned. Sarah was too excited to distin¬ 
guish between necessary and unnecessary 


166 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


questions. Bewildered, she set to work once 
more. 

The day was as hot as a June day can be. 
Not a breath of air stirred the shades at the 
windows, which did not seem to keep out a 
bit of the hot sunshine. The examiners had 
large palm-leaf fans, which they waved tan- 
talizingly hack and forth. Occasionally a 
student stopped writing long enough to fan 
himself with his examination-paper or to mop 
his brow. Not so Sarah. Her hand seemed 
to stick to the paper, the perspiration ran 
down her cheeks, but she did not stop. 

Once “ Bobs ” Ellis furnished a slight di¬ 
version. He wandered in in search of Edward, 
and having found him walked lazily to the 
front of the room, and sat down, panting, to 
stare at the examiners. For a few minutes 
he contemplated them gravely, then he 
opened his mouth in a tremendous yawn and 
stalked out. Every one but Sarah laughed 
and felt better. 

At noon Miss Ellingwood tried to coax 
Sarah to eat. 


THE STATE BOARD 


167 


“ Were they hard, Sarah ? ” 

“ I—I guess so.” 

“ You must lie down for a while after din¬ 
ner/’ said Miss Ellingwood solicitously. 
“ And you must n’t say a word or think 
about examinations.” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” answered Sarah obedi¬ 
ently. She had meant to ask Miss Ellingwood 
to help her to fathom the mystery of the 
morning’s examinations, but if Miss Elling¬ 
wood did not wish to talk about examina¬ 
tions, she would not insist. But she did not 
lie down. She hunted up her spelling-hook 
and glanced once more at “ phthisis” and 
“ relieve” and “receive,” and all the words 
which bothered her. 

It was the middle of the afternoon before 
she realized that she had written the answers 
to seven sets of questions. 

Several of the grammar questions had 
baffled her completely, and when an examiner 
had laid on her desk a sheet of drawing-paper, 
and had intimated that she was to draw the 


168 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


fern which was placed near her on a table, 
she had lifted her hand to protest. But no 
one seemed to see her hand, and she lowered 
it again and set desperately to work. 

Edward Ellis, next to her, was also draw¬ 
ing the fern, and he looked at her wonder- 
ingly. Then he remembered that she had 
been taking some Junior courses. It was that 
which had made her ill. Perhaps they were 
going to let her try the Junior examinations. 
And at any rate the Board knew what it was 
about. Edward stood in great awe of that 
august body, and did not dare to offer any 
objections to its proceedings. 

Sarah was told also to draw the steps lead¬ 
ing to the platform, and she proceeded to 
obey. She had had only elementary drawing. 
She saw with alarm that the boys near her 
were working with careful measurements 
and ruling. She knew nothing about ruling, 
or about holding up one’s pencil and squint¬ 
ing past it, or the rules of perspective by 
which they worked so carefully. She only 


THE STATE BOARD 169 

drew the steps as she had drawn things for 
the twins, as they looked to her. 

“ Political Geography and Arithmetic and 
Physiology and Spelling I was to be exam¬ 
ined in,” she said to herself. “ I have been 
examined in Arithmetic and Physiology and 
History and Latin and Physical Geography 
and Grammar and Drawing, but not yet in 
Spelling or Political Geography. Most of 
these things do not come till next year. 
Acli , I do not know what it means! ” 

The examiner had collected the papers 
once more, and laid a new one on her desk. 
Sarah glanced at it, then finally she raised 
her voice in protest. 

“ I don’t take Civil Government,” she 
said. “ I never took it. I don’t know any¬ 
thing about it. If I knew anything about it, 
I — ” 

“ What class are you ? ” asked the ex¬ 
aminer shortly. 

“ The sub-Junior.” 

“ Then you don’t belong here.” He spoke 


170 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

impatiently. He remembered that the pa¬ 
pers which she had handed in in the morn¬ 
ing were the most voluminous in the class. 
Lengthy papers do not please gentlemen 
who have hundreds to examine. “ You be¬ 
long over in the other room, where the sub- 
Juniors are being examined in Spelling. 
You ’ll have to hurry. People that are late 
are sometimes refused admission.” 

Sarah gathered pencils and erasers and 
fountain-pen, and flew across the hall. The 
examiner there received her even less cheer- 
fully. 

“ You are very late,” he said sharply. 
“ Spell 6 picnicking.’ ” 

He was somewhat mollified by her prompt 
answer. Ten sub-Juniors had misspelled the 
word. 

Sarah breathed a long sigh and found a 
seat. Her mind was suddenly clear; she felt 
that she could not fail even if he gave her 
all the hard words in the book. Here her 
foot was on its native heath. William would 


THE STATE BOARD 


171 


be able to forgive her for knowing nothing 
about Latin, but no Wenner would ever be 
able to forgive her for being a poor speller. 

Long after the examiner had marked them, 
he continued to amuse himself by giving 
them all the “ catchy,” treacherous words he 
could think of. He coupled words on pur¬ 
pose to snare them, “ four ” and “ forty,” 
“ precede ” and “ proceed,” “ defendant ” 
and u precedent.” He gave them all the 
short, trying words, like “ fiery,” which half 
the class spelled a f-i-r-e-y,” and all the 
long words, which one does not expect to 
meet with outside the spelling-book, like 
“ eleemosynary ” and “ monocotyledon ” and 
“ asseveration.” When he finished, both he 
and the students were out of breath. Of all 
the class only Sarah had not missed a word. 

“ Are you the young lady who missed 
time by being sick ? ” he asked. 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Umph ! ” said the examiner non-commit¬ 
tally. 


172 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

Ethel and Gertrude waited for Sarah out¬ 
side the door, and walked across the campus 
with her. As in a dream she heard them dis¬ 
cussing their questions. 

“ The two battles of Saratoga were on 
September 19 and October 7, 1771,” said 
Gertrude. “ Gates was in command of the 
Americans and Burgoyne of the British.” 

“Yes,” answered Ethel. “ And the Treaty 
of Ghent was the one which ended the War 
of 1812, was n’t it ? ” 

“ Were those your questions?” asked 
Sarah wearily. 

“ Yes, what were yours like ?” 

“ Ach , I don’t know. ‘ I want,’ ” — she 
laughingly quoted a jingle which Miss El- 
lingwood often repeated, — 

“ ‘ I want to have my supper, 

And I want to go to bed,’ 

and then I want to sleep and sleep and sleep, 
and then I will not know for a long time 
that I am put out of the Normal School.” 


CHAPTER X 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 

The wild uproar of the gymnasium enter¬ 
tainment did not compare in intensity with 
the suppressed excitement of the day follow¬ 
ing examinations. There were no school- 
exercises except a chapel-service in the morn¬ 
ing, which the students wished might be 
longer, since it was all they had to occupy 
them during the long and tedious day. The 
girls wandered about from room to room, 
the Seniors, who were to have a vacation of 
a week before Commencement, packing their 
trunks half-heartedly, the others doing no¬ 
thing. It did not seem worth while to begin 
anything until one knew whether one was to 
return. 

The Board was closeted down in the prin¬ 
cipal^ office, where they worked from break¬ 
fast till dark. Sometimes a student, passing 


174 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


through the hall when the door was opened, 
saw them laboring at long tables, each with 
a great pile of papers before him and a 
pitcher of water hard by. If the student had 
hoped for hot weather so that the Board 
might be uncomfortable, he prayed now much 
more fervently that their tempers might not 
be influenced by the heat. 

“ They say the marks go down five points 
whenever the thermometer goes up one,” 
laughed Edward Ellis. 

Sarah slept until long after breakfast¬ 
time. When she woke Miss Ellingwood was 
writing at her desk. 

“ Am I put out ? ” asked Sarah faintly. 

“ Not yet,” answered Miss Ellingwood. 
u Here is some breakfast for you.” 

Once in the history of the school, the 
Board had finished its work before supper, 
and the students who were wandering about 
the fields back of the campus out of hearing 
of the bell had to get their reports from Dr. 
Ellis himself, — a sad duty for those who 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 175 

had failed. Since then no one ever wandered 
away in the afternoon, for fear that the omi¬ 
nous bell might ring and he not be there to 
hear. Usually it did not ring till eight o’clock, 
and sometimes it was ten. By that time hopes 
had often sunk very low, and there were 
strange rumors flying about. 

“ They say that ten Seniors have failed, 
and half the Junior class,” some one would 
announce. u They ’re debating about them 
now. Dr. Ellis thinks that some of them can 
be changed.” 

The Secretary always shook his head 
gloomily when applied to. 

“ I never knew such a year,” was his in¬ 
variable response; and it never occurred to 
any one to suppose that he meant a good 
year. 

As usual there was ice-cream for supper. 
Gertrude Manley pretended to wave it aside. 

“ At dinner I might have been able to eat 
a few mouthfuls,” she groaned. “ But now ! 
No, thank you ! ” 


176 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

It was with a great sigh of relief that 
Sarah watched her take a second helping. 
Perhaps they were not as despairing as they 
seemed. It would be bad enough if she 
should not pass, but it would be much worse 
if Ethel and Gertrude should fail. 

Sarah spent the hours after supper wan¬ 
dering up and down the hall which led to 
the chapel. She did not expect to pass; the 
calmer thought of to - day had convinced 
her that she had been the victim of some 
strange mistake in the giving out of the 
papers. It was altogether her own fault. 
She should have told them that she w r as not 
a Junior. 

In spite of her certainty, however, she was 
wildly excited. No one could have been in 
the school for a minute and have remained 
calm. Miss Ellingwood was excited, and Dr. 
Ellis and Eugene, who, when he passed an 
anxious boy in the hall, drew his finger 
across his throat to signify the operation in 
which the State Board was engaged. 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 177 

Presently Ethel and Gertrude came down 
the hall. 

u We were looking for you, Sarah.” 

“ I don’t believe it will ever ring,” cried 
Sarah. 

“ Hark ! ” said Ethel. 

They heard the first faint ring of the 
gong on the boys’ side of the building, then 
the bell rang sharply above their heads. 

“ Our fate is sealed ! ” cried Gertrude. 
“ We are doomed. Come on to the slaugh¬ 
ter ! ” 

She seized Ethel by one hand and Sarah 
by the other, and they were the first to reach 
the chapel-stairs. Behind them doors were 
opening, and there was the sound of hurry¬ 
ing steps and excited voices. 

“ Let us sit here on the last row,” sug¬ 
gested Sarah. 

u So that we can be more easily borne 
hence,” laughed Gertrude. 

The State Board was already seated on 
the platform. They were all talking and 


178 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

laughing as heartily as they had the day 
before. The Chairman carried a paper in his 
hand. He made some joke about it, and his 
colleagues all laughed ; then he laid it down 
on a long box on the table by his side. 

“ The names are on that paper,” whis¬ 
pered Ethel. 

“ Yours is,” answered Sarah, “but mine 
is n’t. I know that much.” 

Mercifully Sarah was not kept long in 
suspense. The students had never gathered 
so quickly. The doors were closed, and then 
Dr. Ellis announced that the Chairman would 
read the names of those who had passed. 

The brown-bearded Chairman rose slowly, 
still laughing with the man next to him. 
Then he looked out solemnly over the audi¬ 
ence and the audience looked back solemnly 
at him. He lifted the paper from the table, 
looked at it solemnly too, and then laid it 
back. 

“Nobody passed, perhaps,” whispered 
Sarah. 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 179 
The Chairman had begun to speak. 
u Ladies and Gentlemen/’ he said. “ I am 
not going to hurt you.” At which there was 
a great laugh, and then a settling back into 
easier positions. “ You all look so frightened 
and so sure that you have failed, that you 
make us feel that our judgment is at fault 
and that we have made a mistake to let any 
of you through. There, that’s better ! Once, 
a good many years ago, when I was a little 
boy — ” He stopped and looked at them 
comically over his glasses — “ Which would 
you rather have first, the story about the 
time when I was a little boy, or the names ? 
All in favor of the names say 6 AyJ ” 

The response left no room for doubt upon 
that question. 

“Well, then. We’ll take the sub-Juniors 
first. Those who have passed are—” The fall¬ 
ing of the proverbial pin would have made a 
loud noise in the silence which ensued. Sarah 
felt a frightened thrill run up and down her 
back. Suppose she should pass! How glori- 


180 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

ous it would be! Then William and Laura 
would feel that their faith in her had been 
warranted, that their sacrifice was not in vain. 
It would encourage the twins to study, it 
would astonish the neighbors. Sarah leaned 
forward, one hand tight in Ethel’s, one in 
Gertrude’s. Suppose she should pass! 

It seemed to her hours before she leaned 
limply back. Her name was not on the list. 
She had been mad to expect it. Mabel 
Thorn’s was there and Ellen Bitter’s; she 
had thought they were stupid and lazy, yet 
they had passed. The girl who had packed 
her ink-bottle in her trunk had passed. Even 
she could answer State Board questions. Any 
of these would have had sense enough to 
object if they had been given Junior papers 
instead of some of their own. 

She felt her companions’ hands tighten 
sympathetically on her own, and she strug¬ 
gled bravely to keep back the tears. She 
would not cry. Not even if they expelled her 
would she cry. 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 181 


The cheerful voice went on reading. Ethel 
and Gertrude had passed; they let go of 
Sarah’s hands for an instant to clasp each 
other’s, and smiled at each other above her 
head, while she looked at them sadly. They 
were Middlers now, and in another year they 
would be Seniors with all the Senior privi¬ 
leges. They would study Psychology and 
Methods of Teaching, and they would begin 
to teach in the Model School and lead the 
gymnasium classes, and soon they would be 
gone. Even if Sarah were allowed to come 
back to redeem herself, they would be too far 
ahead to think of her. She would have to 
make friends anew, and — 

The list of Juniors was finished and the 
speaker folded his paper. 

“ The Middlers have all passed,” he said, 
smiling, and a wild cheer responded. The 
excitement was no longer to be kept under 
control. 

“As for the Seniors — ” The Chairman 
paused. The cheer died down into silence. 


182 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

It was time once more to drop the proverbial 
pin. 

u They have all passed too.” 

Then Bedlam suddenly broke loose. Boys 
and girls were on their feet, there was cheer 
after cheer, and Dr. Ellis sat smiling and 
making no effort to subdue them. Perhaps 
it would have been a relief to him to join. 
His pupils had never done so well. 

After a long time the Chairman held up 
his hand. 

“I have still more to say,” he declared. 
“ And after I am through with the announce¬ 
ments you will still have to listen to my story 
about the time when I was a little boy. But 
first I have a story to tell about a little girl. 

“When we are boys and girls, we are 
taught to think that our teachers are infalli¬ 
ble, that they can never make mistakes, and 
it is good for us to think so. It is equally 
good for us to find out later that teachers 
and grown-up people have made mistakes. 
It makes us feel easier about our own. 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 183 

“ There is a young lady in this school who 
has found this out. She came here to learn 
something about books, after a hard experi¬ 
ence had taught her many more valuable 
lessons, and this is the way the teachers 
treated her. Instead of giving her as little 
to do as possible, and watching to see that 
she played, and taking her books away from 
her by force if necessary, they began to give 
her extra work to do. It was n’t altogether 
their fault, because they were not accustomed 
to having to restrain pupils. Overstudy is a 
little like smallpox. Many doctors would n’t 
recognize smallpox because they have never 
seen a case. It was the same way with these 
teachers who let this girl work too hard. 

“ That, one would think, was enough hard¬ 
ship for one year. But worse things were to 
happen to her. 

“ Yesterday — and this story is a terrible 
confession for a State Board official to make 
— yesterday the State Board gave her the 
wrong papers. The principal told us about 


184 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

her, — I suppose he meant us to mark her 
as easily as we could. But the examiner who 
distributed the sub-Junior papers thought 
that the principal had said she was a sub- 
Junior, and the examiner who distributed 
the Junior papers thought she was a Junior, 
and so both gave her papers, and she — ” 

Gertrude Manley felt suddenly a head 
against her shoulder. 

“ Why, Sarah ! ” she whispered, and saw 
only a bit of scarlet cheek. 

“And she, ,, the Chairman went on, “be¬ 
ing accustomed to having extra work, said 
nothing and sawed wood, with this result.” 
He unfolded again the paper in his hand. 

“ She passed the Arithmetic, Physiology, 
and Spelling which she was expected to pass, 
with good marks. She did not take the sub- 
Junior Political Geography, but she passed 
the Junior Physical Geography and the 
Junior Latin and the Junior History with 
good marks. In these branches I believe she 
did the extra work during the winter. In the 


THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 185 

Junior Grammar, which includes the sub- 
Junior Grammar, she just made passing mark. 
We tried to persuade ourselves that she 
had n’t really passed, but she was too much 
for us. Even when a fern and some steps 
were thrust before her to be drawn, she did 
not falter but drew them. The Civil Govern¬ 
ment paper she did not attempt, which sur¬ 
prised us greatly. It was very inconsiderate 
of the teacher of Civil Government not to 
give her extra lessons too. I think Dr. Ellis 
should speak to him about it. And now, what 
shall we do with this girl? ” 

Not one of the gasping students offered a 
suggestion. 

“ Well, there are several possibilities,” 
went on the Chairman. “We can say that 
inasmuch as she has n’t passed her sub-Junior 
Geography, she has n’t passed at all and will 
have to take the year over. But that does n’t 
seem fair. Or we can say that she is a Junior 
in spite of the Geography. The only objec¬ 
tion to that is that she will grow very lazy 


186 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 

next year with nothing new to study hut Civil 
Government. Not all of us approve of that. 
Then there is one other plan. We can make 
her a Middler, with the provision that she 
makes up the Civil Government some time 
within the next two years. It is unprece¬ 
dented, but it can be done. What does the 
school think of this plan ? ” 

The pupils looked about in complete mys¬ 
tification. Was it all true, or was it only a 
story? Then a few of them began to guess 
whom the Chairman meant. One of them 
was Edward Ellis. 

“ I think she should be made a Middler,” 
he said. 

“Very well, so be it.” The Chairman 
opened the box at his side. “I wish that 
State Boards did not change, so that we 
might all come back here next year and 
make it easy for this young lady; but since 
we can’t, we wish to apologize to her, and to 
give her a little present to remember us by.” 
He lifted a great handful of roses from the 





HE KEPT HER BESIDE HIM 















THE CHAIRMAN MAKES A SPEECH 187 

box. “ And now, good-by, and good luck.” 
And he stood still with the bouquet in his 
hands, forgetting apparently the promised 
story of his boyhood. 

“ Well,” he said, with a smile, his voice more 
Pennsylvania-German than ever, u where is 
this Sarah Wenner, about whom I have been 
talking? ” 

Ethel Davis’s voice shook. 

“ Go and get your flowers, youngster.” 

“ I can’t.” 

“ You must. Run along.” 

She rose to let Sarah pass, and then some 
one near by stood up to see, and in a moment 
the school was on its feet and some one was 
singing. It was the old tune which for many 
years had closed the session of the State 
Board, the long-metre doxology. They fin¬ 
ished the first line as the Chairman put the 
flowers into Sarah’s arms. Then, seeing what 
a little girl she was, he laid his hand on her 
shoulder and kept her beside him, while he 
startled her with his great bass. 


188 WHEN SARAH WENT TO SCHOOL 


And Sarah gave up trying to puzzle out 
how what the Chairman said could be true. 
She saw Ethel smiling at her and Gertrude 
waving her hand, and Professor Minturn and 
Miss Ellingwood and Mr. Sattarlee laughing 
together at the back of the room, and she 
grew a little less frightened and clasped her 
flowers a little more tightly in her arms. The 
troubles of the past year seemed to dwindle, 
the joys to grow, until it was all joy and happi¬ 
ness, and she lifted up her voice and sang out 
with all her heart. 




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REBECCA 

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By KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN 


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WHEN SHE CAME HOME 
FROM COLLEGE 

By MARIAN K. HURD and JEAN B. WILSON 


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